How cabal exploited Buhari’s weakness – Ex-Chief of Staff, Gambari

Former Chief of Staff to ex-President Muhammadu Buhari (now late), Professor Ibrahim Gambari, has opened up about how influential insiders within the presidency exploited Buhari’s soft spots to bypass official channels and get memos approved behind his back.

“They knew his weak moment, they knew when to smuggle (memos) because they knew him as they interacted with him informally,” Gambari said during an appearance on Channels Television’s Inside Sources programme on Friday
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Gambari, a seasoned diplomat and former United Nations special envoy, served as Buhari’s chief of staff from May 13, 2020, until the administration’s end on May 29, 2023. He took over the role following the death of his predecessor, Abba Kyari.

Reflecting on his experience, Gambari recalled how Buhari’s early directive that all memos must pass through the Chief of Staff before reaching him.

“When I came as Chief of Staff to the President, he made a statement publicly. He said all memos must go through the Chief of Staff before coming to him.

“Even the Vice President (Yemi Osinbajo), to his credit, always passed his memos through me and several ministers, 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. But the advantage I had was that the memos came back to me,” he explained.

Gambari also offered a personal tribute to the late president, who passed away on July 13, 2025, describing him as a compassionate leader who was reluctant to dismiss cabinet members, even when there were strong public demands to do so.

He confirmed that a close-knit group held significant sway over Buhari’s decisions, although he maintained that they operated within bounds.
“They knew their limits,” he said.

According to Gambari, such influential inner circles are not unusual in presidential systems.

“They say there was a cabal, there was. Every government has a cabal. They may call them a kitchen cabinet; they may call them a think tank.

“(Former President Olusegun) Obasanjo had a group of people. The Aboyades of this world and others – a small group of people. It’s the nature of the office of the president that they must have some people in and out of government whom they can let their guard down to and talk to freely.

“Some have more powers than others, but I’m bold to say that every government has a cabal of some kind or another, whatever name it is called. So, there was (a cabal under Buhari).”

The veteran diplomat also recalled the power dynamics during Buhari’s earlier stint as military ruler from 1984 to 1985.
“I was a minister 1984–1985 but I wasn’t privy to why he was removed by his colleagues; they put him there but one of the reasons I’m told was the military people were resenting the fact that Head of State Buhari was now getting a lot of advice and second-guessing the decision of his military colleagues – the Supreme Military Council.”

Buhari, born December 17, 1942, first led Nigeria as a military ruler before returning as an elected president in 2015. He served two full terms, handing over to his successor, Bola Tinubu, in May 2023. He died in London on Sunday and was buried in his hometown of Daura, Katsina State on Tuesday.