Indication from the Presidency shows that the kitchen cabinet of President Muhammadu Buhari is gradually crumbling due to ego conflicts, mutual suspicion and allegations of corruption among its members.
The major casualty among members of President thinking tank include a nephew of President and his principal adviser Mamman Daura and the President Chief of Staff, Abba Kyari
According to some media report, Mamman Daura, is allegedly responsible for the plagiarism of Charles de Gaulle French Army Officer and United States President Barack Obama in speech delivered by President Muhammadu Buhari on the day of his inauguration and at the lunching of ‘change begins with me’ campaign.
Mamman Daura as a member of the President’s kitchen cabinet was said to have hijacked the task of providing speeches for the president. He said to often throw away draft speeches that he did not commission.
Muhammadu Buhari has ordered that disciplinary action be taken against aides that exposed him to embarrassment by plagiarizing United States President Barack Obama’s 2008 victory speech. President Buhari has apologised for plagiarism and promise to punish those responsible.
Next on the list is the President’s Chief of Staff, Abba Kyari. He alleged to have collected the sum of N500m bribe from operators of MTN to help the telecommunications firm mitigate the fine imposed on it by the federal government.
Media report claimed that the evidence of the corrupt practice have been presented to President Buhari several times including during the last Sallah holiday. The Chief of Staff scandal is the latest in the mounting allegations of corruption involving members of the top echelon of President Buhari’s administration.
Kyari has in the past be implicated in other corruption matters which include taking money from Jide Omokore, a businessman who was massively involved in corruption in the oil sector in the Goodluck Jonathan administration.
The Minister of Internal Affairs, Abdulrahman Dambazau is another member of President Buhari’s cabinet that has corruption against his name. Dambazau is alleged to have purchase homes for millions of dollars in Boston, United States.
Other notable persons alleged to be members of the President’s think thank that have cornered and restricted access to the President are Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Babachir David Lawal, Comptroller-General of Customs, Col. Ahmed Ali (rtd), Hadi Sirika and Director-General of Department of State Services, Lawan Daura.
Members of President’s Buhari Kitchen Cabinet
Mamman Daura is a nephew and principal adviser of President Muhammadu Buhari. He is a long-time confidant of President Buhari and he is believed to a top member of the President’s ‘think thank’. He was so powerful and influential that he is said to have the closest ear of the president, more than anyone else
In the late 1980s, Mamman Daura succeeded Ibrahim Dasuki as the head of the African International Bank. He later also served as chairman of the board of the Nigerian Television Authority (NTA). He also serves as editor and managing director of New Nigeria newspaper.
Abba Kyari is a retired Nigerian Army Brigadier who served as Governor of the now defunct North-Central State after it was formed from the Northern Region during the military regime of General Yakubu Gowon.
He was born in 1938 and attended Borno Middle School and Barewa College Zaria. In 1959 he enlisted in the Nigerian Army as an Officer Cadet. He attended the 12th Regular Officers’ Training School, Teshia, Ghana (March 1959 – September 1959) and then the Mons Officer Cadet School, Aldershot England (October 1959 – March 1960). Kyari held various appointments in the army, including Platoon Commander and then Transport Offices in the 1 Brigade Transport Company, Second-in-Command and then Commander in the Nigerian Army Artillery, commander of 1 Brigade, Kaduna and Commanding Officer 5th Battalion, Nigerian Army, Kano.
He led the Northern delegates to the 1994 National Constitutional Conference and was appointed Chairman of the National Defence Committee of the conference. After retiring, he was appointed to the board of directors of First Bank of Nigeria, Standard Alliance Insurance and Merchant Bank of Commerce. He became Chairman of Gamah Flour Mills and Alif Engineering and Construction.
Babachir David Lawal is the current Secretary to the Government of the Federation. He was appointed on August 27, 2015 by President Muhammadu Buhari. He was born 2nd October 1954 and hails from kwambla village in Hong Local Government Area of Adamawa State.
He graduated from the Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria in 1979 with a Bachelor of Electrical / Electronic Engineering Degree and worked with the Delta Steel Company, Aladja, Nigerian External Telecommunications Limited and Data Sciences Limited before establishing his own ICT and Telecommunications consulting firm in 1990. He is also a member of the Nigeria Computer Society, the Nigeria Society of Engineers and the Council for the Regulation of Engineering in Nigeria
Abdulrahman Bello Dambazau is a retired Nigerian Army Lieutenant General and Nigeria’s current Minister of the Interior. Dambazau served as Chief of Army Staff (COAS) between 2008 and 2010, succeeding Lieutenant General Luka Yusuf.
He went to Barewa College Zaria for secondary education where he graduated from in 1974 He proceeded to the Nigerian Defence Academy Kaduna as a member of the 17 Regular Combatant Course and was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant into the Infantry Corps of the Nigerian Army in June 1977. In 1979, Dambazau attended the United States Army Military Police School, Fort McClellan. He later obtained a bachelor’s degree in Criminal Justice from Kent State University in 1982 and a PhD in Criminology from University of Keele in 1989.
Dambazau served as a military police officer, Aide de Camp to the Chief of Army Staff in 1979, commanded military police units and served as a Special Investigator (1984-1985). He was Registrar of the Nigerian Defence Academy from 1993 to 1999. He also served as Chief Instructor, Support Weapon Wing of the Infantry Centre and School from 1999 to 2001 and later as Directing Staff at the National War College from 2004 to 2006. From 2007-2008 he served as General Officer Commanding (GOC) 2nd Division, Ibadan. He was appointed Chief of Army Staff in 2008 by late President Umaru Yar Adua.
Lawal Musa Daura was born in Daura on the 5th of August, 1953. He attended Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria from 1977 to 1980. He was appointed as the acting Director General of the State Security Service on July 2, 2015 President Muhammadu Buhari. He received a bachelor’s degree from Ahmadu Bello University in 1980 and also trained at the National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies Kuru Jos.
Daura began his career in 1982 at the Nigerian Security Organisation (NSO) which was later change to State Security Service (SSS) where he rose to the position of director. In 2003, he was appointed, Deputy Director Presidential Communication, Command and Control Centre at the Presidential Villa, a position he held till 2007.
