Author and public affairs analyst, Charles Omole, has stirred fresh controversy after alleging that President Bola Tinubu’s administration is riddled with powerful cabals operating at the heart of government.
Omole claimed that no fewer than five distinct power blocs currently exist within the presidency, naming prominent figures such as FCT Minister Nyesom Wike, Chief of Staff to the President Femi Gbajabiamila, and Seyi Tinubu, the president’s son, as key players.
He made the remarks on Thursday during an appearance on Channels Television’s Politics Today.
“The president will always have people around him. But you need to put systems in place to avoid state capture or presidential capture because, for example, the current government has, from what I can see, at least five cabals within the presidency,” he said.
“And the interesting thing about one of the cabals actually is headed by the president himself, based on my own analysis.
“So, in this current administration, at least there are five groups. There is the Chief of Staff group headed by Femi Gbajabiamila. And by that I mean not just him but there are people in that circle like the FCT Minister, Nyesom Wike and the National Security Adviser (NSA) Nuhu Ribadu.
“Secondly, you have the Seyi Tinubu’s group consisting of those he helped get some government appointments and all that. And of course, you have the First Lady’s group, Remi Tinubu.”
Omole spoke a few days after the unveiling of his book, From Soldier to Statesman – The Legacy of Muhammadu Buhari, in Abuja.
Turning attention to the previous administration, the author alleged that similar cabal influences existed under former President Muhammadu Buhari, particularly in how information reached him.
He claimed that although Buhari was fond of reading newspapers, there were reports that powerful interests around him altered the information he consumed.
While Buhari loved reading newspapers, he said there were reports that the cabal created a version of newspapers that planted stories they wanted him [former president] to read.
Buhari served as Nigeria’s democratically elected president from 2015 to 2023.
The Katsina-born former leader died in London on July 13 at the age of 82.
