Ex-CoS, Gambari opens up on how Buhari’s cabal sidestepped him with secret memos
Prof. Ibrahim Gambari, who served as Chief of Staff to late President Muhammadu Buhari, has shed light on how a powerful inner circle within Buhari’s administration managed to bypass official channels and secretly deliver memos directly to the president.
Appearing on Channels Television’s Inside Sources on Friday, the seasoned diplomat and former United Nations envoy revealed that members of the so-called “cabal” knew exactly how to exploit Buhari’s informal moments to gain access to him.
“They knew his weak moment, they knew when to smuggle (memos) because they knew him as they interacted with him informally,” Gambari explained.
Gambari, who took over as Chief of Staff on May 13, 2020, following the death of Abba Kyari, said Buhari had initially insisted all official documents must pass through his desk.
“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,” he recalled.
He noted that even Vice President Yemi Osinbajo complied with the directive.
“Even the Vice President, 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 added.
Reflecting on his experience working with the late president, who passed away on July 13, 2025, Gambari said Buhari deeply loved both his team and ordinary Nigerians, which explained his reluctance to sack underperforming cabinet members.
Describing Buhari as a “compassionate man who served Nigeria with everything he had,” the former Chief of Staff acknowledged that the presence of an influential group around the president was undeniable, though not unique to his administration.
“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,” he said.
Gambari pointed out that even former President Olusegun Obasanjo had a trusted inner circle.
“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.”
He continued: “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).”
Offering more historical context, Gambari recalled Buhari’s first stint in power as a military ruler between 1984 and 1985, a period he also served in government.
“I was a minister 1884-1985 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,” he said.
Buhari, born December 17, 1942, first led Nigeria as a military head of state before making a democratic return to the presidency in 2015. He remained in office until 2023, when he handed over to his party successor, Bola Tinubu.
Ex-CoS, Gambari opens up on how Buhari’s cabal sidestepped him with secret memos
