In a startling confession on Channels Television’s Inside Sources, Professor Ibrahim Gambari—the last Chief of Staff to President Muhammadu Buhari—laid bare the subterfuge that allowed a shadowy “cabal” to bypass official channels and smuggle policy memos directly to the President.
Gambari, who served from May 2020 to May 2023, revealed that despite an explicit presidential decree mandating all correspondence funnel through his office, “members of the inner circle knew his weak moment, they knew when to smuggle (memos) because they knew him as they interacted with him informally”.
Gambari described how even Vice‑President Yemi Osinbajo “to his credit, always passed his memos through me,” yet less scrupulous appointees cultivated informal access, exploiting Buhari’s famously disciplined but solitary schedule to slip in proposals, appointments and contract awards without oversight.
“He never stopped them – the advantage I had was that the memos came back to me,” the veteran diplomat added, underscoring the precarious balance between loyalty and clandestine influence.
Far from an aberration, Gambari insists every administration assembles its own “kitchen cabinet.”
He drew parallels to former President Olusegun Obasanjo, citing “the Aboyades of this world” as an earlier incarnation of informal advisors who shaped policy behind the scenes.
“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,” he asserted, soberly acknowledging that such networks can confer enormous sway over national direction.
The corrosive effect of these parallel power hubs is reflected in Nigeria’s stagnating governance indices.
According to Transparency International’s 2024 Corruption Perceptions Index, Nigeria ranked 140th out of 180 countries, with a marginal score of 26/100—an improvement of just one point since 2023 and still well below the Sub‑Saharan African average of 33.
Meanwhile, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission reported recovering nearly US\$500 million in illicit proceeds and securing over 4,000 convictions in the past year—its most successful haul since inception—underscoring the persistent battle against graft even as clandestine cabals erode institutional integrity.
Gambari’s revelations raise urgent questions about the structural safeguards—or lack thereof—that permit informal power brokers to flourish.
As Nigeria grapples with economic volatility and public distrust, formalising transparent memo‑routing protocols and reinforcing the Chief of Staff’s gatekeeping role may be the only bulwark against back‑channel manoeuvring.
Without such reforms, successive governments risk perpetuating a two‑tiered decision‑making process: one visible in public, the other clandestine and unaccountable.
