By Ishaya Ibrahim, News Editor
A Nigerian based in the US, Professor Farooq Kperogi, has alleged that the real person exercising the powers of the chief-of-staff in Aso Villa is Sabiu ‘Tunde’ Yusuf, a blood relative of President Muhammadu Buhari.
Kperogi said the evidence for this assertion was in the Daily Trust article of May 25 titled How Buhari’s Chief of Staff, Gambari facilitated removal of TCN boss.
“That evidence emerged last week. A source that had told me that Gambari would at best be an outsider on the inside— and who is familiar with Gambari’s simultaneous embrace and alienation in the Villa—called my attention to an exclusive news story in the Daily Trust of May 25, 2020.
“Titled ‘How Buhari’s Chief of Staff, Gambari facilitated removal of TCN boss,’ the story detailed the behind-the-scene maneuvers that resulted in the firing of the Managing Director of the Transmission Company of Nigeria by the name of Usman Gur Mohammed.
“Tucked somewhere in that story is this telling paragraph: ‘The Special Assistant to the President (President Secretariat), Sabi’u Yusuf, the same day, wrote a letter referenced PRES/65-I/COS/3/750, addressed to the CoS, Prof. Gambari, conveying Buhari’s approval of his earlier memo.’
“In other words, unlike Abba Kyari who had a direct access to Buhari and whom Buhari said all ministers should meet if they wanted anything from him, Gambari has an intermediary between him and Buhari. And it isn’t just any intermediary; the intermediary is Buhari’s blood relative whom my November 23, 2019 column titled “Government of Buhari’s Family, By His Family, and For His Family.
“Here is what I wrote about Sabi’u Yusuf in the column: ‘Sabiu ‘Tunde’ Yusuf. He is Buhari’s Private Secretary. Don’t be deceived by the ‘Tunde’ in his name. It’s just a nickname, probably inspired by Tunde Idiagbon, Buhari’s deputy when he was a military dictator. Sabiu is the son of Mamman Daura’s full biological sister by the name of Hajia Halima (more popularly known as ‘Hajja Madam’ in Daura) who died last year. As you should know by now, Mamman Daura’s sister is Buhari’s niece since their father (Dauda Daura) is Buhari’s much older half-brother. Sabiu, who is in his 30s, is one of the most powerful people in Nigeria today. He determines who sees and who doesn’t see Buhari. Only Mamman Daura and Abba Kyari can overrule him,” Kperogi had said in the article of November 23, 2019.
But Kperogi also said Gambari has been catalyzing a lot of motion in the Presidential Villa in ways that were not typical when Abba Kyari held sway.
