Charles Omole, a lawyer and author, says the cabal in the late ex-President Muhammadu Buhari administration often planted stories in newspapers for him to read.
Omole spoke on Thursday in an interview on Channels Television, pertaining to the newly launched biography titled: ‘From Soldier to Statesman: The Legacy of Muhammadu Buhari’.
The lawyer authored the biography that highlights some of the legacies of Buhari, who served as civilian president from 2015 to 2023.
Speaking about some of the details in the book, the author said every Nigerian president since 1999 had their own cabal that shaped and influenced policies.
Omole said a clique is “not necessarily a bad thing” in an administration if they share the interests of the president and they can become a “force multiplier”.
The lawyer said in the Buhari-led administration, there was an “overarching” cabal while in the Tinubu government, there are five different cabals.
The author said the five cabals in the Tinubu administration are Femi Gbajabiamila’s group, Seyi Tinubu’s camp, Remi Tinubu, the principal private secretary’s camp, and geriatric’s camp headed by Tinubu himself.
“Like I said in the book, every president, since 1999, had his own cabal,” he said.
“The current one (Tinubu’s administration) is slightly more complicated. He has more than one cabal. Every president has their own cabal.
“Cabal is not necessarily a bad thing like I said in the book. The cabals can become a force multiplier. If they share the intention of the leaders they can help magnify his programmes and help achieve much better things.
“But the problem comes when cabals have their own agenda.
“For example, there are things I actually did not include in the book that I felt were probably too hot to put in the book.
“One of the things about Buhari is that he loved reading newspapers. Everybody knows that right from his early days, he was a newspaper man.
“There were reports that the cabals went to the extent of creating his own newspaper. They would plant stories that they want him to read.
“The challenge, of course, with someone like Buhari is that there was one overarching cabal but in this current government, there are multiple cabals. I think this has its plus and minus.
“This current government, from what I can see, has at least five cabals. The interesting thing is that one of the cabals is actually headed by the president himself based on my own analysis.”
