Lawyer and author, Charles Omole, has said that the so‑called cabal in the late former President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration often planted stories in newspapers for the commander‑in‑chief’s “reading pleasure.”
Omole made the disclosure on Thursday during an interview on Channels Television about his newly launched biography, From Soldier to Statesman: The Legacy of Muhammadu Buhari.
Omole, who authored the biography that chronicles aspects of Buhari’s tenure as Nigeria’s civilian president from 2015 to 2023, discussed several of the book’s intricacies.
He said that every Nigerian president since 1999 has had a cabal that has shaped and influenced policy.
Omole explained that a clique within government is “not necessarily a bad thing” if its members share the president’s interests and can serve as a “force multiplier.”
He described the Buhari administration as having an “overarching” cabal that played such a role.
The lawyer also compared the Buhari era with the current administration of President Bola Tinubu, stating that there are five distinct cabals shaping the present government.
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.
He said, “Like I said in the book, every president, since 1999, has had his own cabal.
“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, as I said in the book. The cabals can become a force multiplier. If they share the intention of the leaders, they can help magnify their 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 newspaperman.
“There were reports that the cabals went to the extent of creating their 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.”