Williams Kayode
Former Chief of Staff to late President Muhammadu Buhari, Professor Ibrahim Gambari, has shed rare insight into the inner workings of the Buhari administration, confirming long-standing speculations about the influence of an informal cabal that operated at the highest level of government.
Speaking during an interview on Channels Television’s Inside Sources on Friday, July 18, Gambari disclosed that some powerful individuals within the presidency consistently bypassed official protocols to gain direct access to Buhari, exploiting what he called the former president’s “weak moments.”
“They knew his weak moments, they knew when to smuggle memos because they knew him as they interacted with him informally,” Gambari revealed.
Gambari, who assumed office as Chief of Staff in May 2020 following the death of Abba Kyari, recalled Buhari’s clear directive that all memos should pass through his desk for coordination. He even praised then-Vice President Yemi Osinbajo for respecting this chain of command.
“Even the Vice President, to his credit, always passed his memos through me… But our people still got their memos to him from behind because they knew his weak point and who to use—and he never stopped them,” he said.
Despite these breaches, Gambari claimed he was usually able to retrieve the memos and process them properly to maintain order.
When asked about the controversial “cabal” that dominated public discourse during Buhari’s tenure, Gambari did not deny its existence. Instead, he argued that such informal power structures are a natural feature of governance.
“They say there was a cabal—there was. Every government has a cabal. They may call them a kitchen cabinet or a think tank. It’s the nature of the office of the president. Some have more power than others, but every government has a cabal of some kind,” he explained.
This candid admission validates years of speculation that certain individuals wielded enormous behind-the-scenes influence during Buhari’s presidency.
Gambari described Buhari as a compassionate leader who deeply cared for his appointees and Nigerians in general. According to him, this attribute, while admirable, contributed to the president’s reluctance to dismiss underperforming officials.
“He was a compassionate man. He cared about people, even when they didn’t deliver as expected. That sometimes made it difficult for him to fire people,” Gambari noted.
The former Chief of Staff also hinted that Buhari’s reliance on external advice during his days as a military ruler in the 1980s created friction with his colleagues, which partly led to his ousting in the 1985 coup.
Gambari’s revelations offer a rare peek into the dynamics of power within the Buhari administration and highlight how informal networks—commonly referred to as cabals—continue to shape governance in Nigeria.