Insinuations
that a powerful group, described as a cabal within the Presidential Villa,
Abuja, is deftly manipulating the levers of power in the Muhammadu Buhari
administration to its
advantage, is not the correct position of things, a source, who is a close associate of the
president, has fired back.
The source,
who declined to be named, has also been accused of being a prominent member of
the “powerful cabal” believed by some as being in charge of Aso Rock and
running the government, while Buhari recuperates. The source said: “The people
they are alleging to be the cabal running the government are not anything near
what may be described as a cabal.
“These are
people who have always been with the president, and you cannot expect him to
simply discard them just because he is now president. These are people who have been with him for
many years; they eat breakfast, lunch and dinner together. They pray with him.
They can advise him, but that is not the same thing as dictating to him.” The
fact that governance process is moving at a slow pace at the moment, he argued,
clearly shows that Buhari is in charge.
“If truly a
cabal has taken over governance and is acting in the name of the president, now
that he is ill, then appointments into vacant positions and other government
activities should be faster,” the source said.
“It follows
logically that if the president is ill and things are still slow, then are they
saying members of the so-called cabal they accused of being in charge are also
not well? “One thing I can tell you categorically is that the president is not
a man you can dictate to. The idea of an Aso Rock cabal is a myth.”
The belief
that the cabal had taken control and is firmly in charge became rife when the
president’s wife, Aisha, in a BBC interview, accused some individuals of having
hijacked her husband’s government. He
could not preside at the Federal Executive Council meetings held in the Aso
Rock council chambers for three consecutive weeks, and was also not seen in
public and his office.
Rather, the
Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, who briefed newsmen
on the development after the FEC meeting said that the president sent a message
to Vice President Yemi Osinbajo and asked him to preside at the meeting. Alhaji
Mohammed explained that the president chose to work at home that particular
day. The following week and even last Wednesday, the president neither presided
at the FEC meeting nor did he attend the Jumat service at the Aso Rock mosque
on Friday of that week. His absence naturally fueled the anxiety of the nation
and fed the rumour mill, leading to claims of a cabal having taken charge of
Aso Rock machinery of governance as the president’s health allegedly
deteriorated.
Apparently
to blunt these claims and end the rumours about his health status, he attended
Jumat service last Friday and interacted openly with his aides, government
officials and other worshippers.
Said the
source: “If a so-called cabal is in charge, things will be swifter; you will
find more decisive actions taken. The president is in charge. People alleging
cabal take over are just out to demonize others, to gain whatever undue
advantage in the scheme of things, nothing more.”
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