Former presidential spokesperson, Garba Shehu, has refuted long-standing claims that a cabal held undue influence over former President Muhammadu Buhari during his time in office, describing such assertions as “sheer nonsense.”
Speaking on Channels Television’s Politics Today on Friday, Shehu maintained that final authority always rested with Buhari, asserting that the former president was not one to take orders from behind-the-scenes actors.
“This thing about cabals is sheer nonsense,” Shehu said. “Let me tell you, Buhari is a military general, even when he becomes a converted democrat.”
Rumours of a shadowy power structure influencing presidential decisions trailed much of Buhari’s tenure. Notably, in January, former Minister of Youth and Sports Development, Solomon Dalung, publicly claimed that Buhari had become “a stranger in his own administration,” and that his government was controlled by a group of individuals with limited political and administrative experience.
But Shehu rejected those claims, emphasizing that while Buhari may have had advisers, decision-making ultimately remained in his hands.
“You could have people around you and have people advise you, but the buck stopped on his table,” he said. “I can tell you that I know not one person who can say with 100% certainty that if they told Buhari ‘ABC is black,’ he would automatically agree. No, he had his own mind.”
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Shehu also pushed back against the perception that the former president was aloof or uninformed about national matters.
“I will say with all emphasis that Buhari, if it can be measured, may have been the most aware president this country has had,” Shehu stated.
He added that Buhari’s governing style, characterized by a hands-off approach to ministerial affairs, was often misinterpreted as disengagement.
“Buhari was not meddlesome. He never pretended like he owned Nigeria. He wasn’t a dictator,” Shehu said.
On whether Buhari played a decisive role in the 2023 general elections, particularly in the emergence of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, Shehu dismissed the notion as unfounded.
“Someone must have seen that in their dream, it didn’t happen,” he said. “I sat with President Bola Tinubu after his victory and he told me that ‘President Buhari allowed me to win in a free and fair election.’”
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