“We can’t reach the president” – Tinubu’s allies raise alarm over emergence of cabal in Aso Rock

There is growing dissatisfaction in President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s camp, especially among his close allies and party elders, of the emergence of a cabal in Aso Rock.

According to the Guardian, the situation has become more precarious with the alleged inability of his allies and party elders to have access to the President, advise him on their observations or even register their displeasures with some of his actions and inactions.

There are insinuations that President Tinubu might be going through a similar scenario as his predecessor, former President Muhammadu Buhari, whose government was allegedly hijacked by a cabal, which controlled access to him.

The long list of disenchanted stakeholders include, All Progressives Congress (APC) leaders, especially from the Southwest and Northwest, Muslim stakeholders and Yoruba stakeholders, including elders and young professionals, as well as traditional rulers.

A series of policies introduced by President Tinubu since assuming office have left Nigerians facing varying degrees of economic hardships.

Politics Nigeria recalls that only few days ago, the apex Yoruba socio-cultural body, Afenifere, called government’s attention to the state of insecurity across the country, urging that something be done to stem the ugly development.

Feelers from the President’s allies have it that they believe there is a compelling need for him to cautiously begin to look inward with a view to engaging with the people and assuaging their pains.

One of the political blocs said to be discontented with Tinubu’s style of appointment is the Southwest and Northwest Muslim stakeholders in the ruling party.

They allege being short-changed in spite of their votes giving Tinubu victory in the presidential poll.

Specifically, there are concerns within the APC that President Tinubu might have abandoned some of the party elders, who are known to be his allies since 1999, and other party adherents who went to the trenches with him during the presidential primary election and campaigns.

Making further allusions to a new cabal in Aso Villa, which determines who gets what and who sees the President, party sources close to the Presidency said that this situation might be more devastating to governance than what operated under the immediate past administration.

It was also reliably gathered that the excruciating high cost of living occasioned by the fuel subsidy removal, the exchange rate and other indices that are making life unbearable for Nigerians, is seriously unsettling some of Tinubu’s allies, who believe that things could be done differently to bring succour to the masses.

They expressed fears that should the economic crunch continue, aside from the incumbent administration losing credibility, the situation would rubbish the long-term integrity of the Southwest zone in terms of governance.

Within the APC, the discussion in some quarters is the current disposition of the likes of former Governors of Osun and Ogun states, Chief Bisi Akande and Aremo Segun Osoba, other elder statesmen and Yoruba sons and daughters, who served in the immediate past government, to President Tinubu’s administration.

According to the report, sources close to the party said Chief Akande and Osoba and others who were considered as Tinubu’s men, are today more or less treated like outsiders under the incumbent administration.

Chief Akande, perceived as one of the closest allies to the President, is alleged to have lamented to party stalwarts on how difficult it has been for him to assess the Villa, let alone, having opportunity to discuss issues of importance or convey the feelings of Nigerians to Tinubu in recent times.

While it is not clear whether Akande is currently in the country, part of the octogenarian’s lamentation to close friends is that he has not even been consulted on some far reaching decisions of the administration.

For instance, a party source claimed that Akande was not carried along about Tinubu’s decision to use former Governor of Kano State, Umar Ganduje, as APC’s national chairman just as the former Osun State governor was said to have feigned ignorance of the selection of Ajibola Basiru, a senator, as the national secretary of APC.

Even the former governor of Ogun State, who happens to be one of the first elders to commend President Tinubu for having the boldness to remove fuel subsidy, may have also withdrawn.

On another hand, members of the Lagos State APC Governor’s Advisory Council (GAC) are also reeling in pain, not just over appointments, but the way the country is running.

According to Guardian, one of them lamented how his children asked him, “Is this all that your Tinubu has to offer?”

Another party stalwart noted that instead of the expected enthusiasm that federal power has eventually shifted to the Southwest and is particularly in the hands of Tinubu, members of the ruling party in the region are unhappy.

For instance, the Oyo State chapter of APC is not pretending over how it has been short-changed in terms of ministerial appointments.A party member, who didn’t want his name in print, said, “What belonged to the chapter in terms of ministerial appointment was ceded to a member of another party, who in turn picked his aides even outside the party. There is no sign that such people are even making plans to return to the party to rebuild or organise it?”

It is the same feeling within the Ekiti, Ondo and Ogun state chapters of the APC.  

However, some party men are convinced President Tinubu will soon turn the table around, said whatever any of the Yoruba elders are experiencing under Tinubu now, serves them right.