DAILY TRUST
Immediately Bola Ahmed Tinubu was announced as the winner of the 2023 presidential election, serious jostle for positions among those close to him commenced.
It wasn’t surprising for a man who had been in politics for the better part of his adult life and had won elections as senator and two times as governor and had never hidden his interest in vying for the presidency.
All these required the support of family members, close friends, business and political associates, religious and traditional leaders, as well as other non-defined groups.
The first noticeable power tussle was for the choice position of chief of staff.
At the end, Femi Gbajabiamila succeeded in clinching the position, a development that significantly altered the power configuration in the Villa as it introduced a new factor to reckon with in the administration.
Hitherto, most of the lobbies for positions were done through close family members like the president’s wife, Mrs Oluremi Tinubu and his son, Seyi; longtime political associates like a former governor of Ogun State, Segun Osoba, as well as Bisi Akande.
After more than a year and half in government, it is becoming more glaring, those who belong in the kitchen cabinet of the president and those whose influences determine the structure and policies of the administration.
Background
There are people whose inputs are relied on to determine the policy direction and face of every administration. They range from family members to friends, longtime political associates, core loyalists and those with proven expertise in recondite fields. They are known by various names, such as: ‘Powers behind the throne, kitchen cabinet, cabal, inner circle or inner caucus’ etc.
In the Second Republic, the then minister of transport and aviation, Alhaji Umaru Dikko, was seen as one of the closest to the then President Shehu Shagari.
Dikko, who hailed from Kaduna, was so powerful that he was made to oversee any task the president had interest in, from handling his political interests to taking charge of special economic tasks like the presidential task force on rice.
This created a larger-than-life image for him that it incurred the wrath of the succeeding military regime, which, even when it had the leader of that administration arrested, was not satisfied until it attempted to abduct Dikko to bring him back to Nigeria for trial.
In subsequent administrations, various other persons positioned themselves to play similar or more influential roles.
Under the Obasanjo administration, there were people like the vice president, Atiku Abubakar, who virtually ran the economy and controlled politics in the first term, then the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Ufot Ekaette, minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Malam Nasir el-Rufai, chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Nuhu Ribadu, the late Deputy Senate President, Ibrahim Mantu, internal affairs minister, Sunday Afolabi and others.
Under Yar’adua were the likes of Abba Sayyadi Ruma, then First Lady, Turai Yar’adua, Tanimu Yakubu, James Ibori etc,
while under the Jonathan administration were people like Peter Godsday Orubebe, First Lady Dame Patience Jonathan, Diezani Alison-Madueke, Chief Edwin Clark and Hassan Tukur. Also, under the Buhari administration were people like Mamman Daura, Abba Kyari, Tunde Sabiu, Ismaila Isa Funtua etc.
The Tinubu administration
The current administration has taken five fundamental actions since inception. They are: the removal of subsidy on petroleum products; floating of the naira; autonomy for local government councils; removal of tariff on electricity and negotiating with bandits to end insecurity.
All the measures are believed to be influenced by powerful persons behind the president.
An analysis of the composition of the men and women behind the president shows that it is not different from the previous administrations, where the bulk of the ‘inner caucus’ was drawn from family members, region and ethnic group and social circles. This, according to some, is because the president needs to surround himself with people he has absolute trust in.
Chief Henry Ajomale, a former chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Lagos and member of the Governance Advisory Council (GAC), said trust was necessary in attracting people to the president.
He said, “The cabinet is about 30; if he takes three out of those ones to be in the cabinet, I think he is generous enough because the others are those representing their states and that is what the law states.”
Among the many touted as being behind the Tinubu government, Weekend Trust was able to confirm some, such as his wife, son and some ministers. However, there are those that were very close to him but fell out of favour due to political differences, such as former Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, former governors, Rauf Aregbesola and Kayode Fayemi.
READ THE FULL STORY IN DAILY TRUST
