The men around Tinubu
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.
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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.
Remi Tinubu
As First Lady, Senator Remi Tinubu is known to have immense influence on the president. She not only keeps an eye on his politics, but always lends support to achieve the goal.
Seyi Tinubu
It is glaring that Seyi is not content with just sitting and enjoying the glamour that comes with being the president’s son, so he asserts himself in the power loop.
Femi Gbajabiamila
Olufemi Hakeem Gbajabiamila, the current chief of staff, is one of those whose closeness to the president is unmistakable. First elected to the House of Representatives in 2003 to represent Surulere I federal constituency of Lagos State, he climbed to almost all the top positions in the Green Chamber till he became the Speaker in his fifth outing in 2019.
The relationship between him and the president precedes his days in the parliament. His choice as chief of staff also proved that the relationship has remained healthy and he is believed to have contributed immensely to the composition of the Federal Executive Council, as well as appointments of heads of key government parastatals.
Muri Okunola
Lawyer, public administrator and former Lagos State Head of Service, Hakeem Muri-Okunola is currently the principal secretary to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu. Fondly called HMO, he was regarded as one of the president’s “Golden Boys” during the latter’s reign as Lagos State governor.
His relationship with Tinubu is ‘hereditary’ as his father, the late Justice Muritala Okunola, who died in Mecca on January 29, 2024 during hajj pilgrimage, was Tinubu’s close friend and was revered for being forthright and fair-minded.
Tinubu was reported to have said that he had spoken to the late justice two hours before the news of his death broke.
He was a personal assistant to Tinubu, the then governor of Lagos, from 2003 to 2005, and was later appointed as executive secretary to the governor on the Land Use and Allocation Committee.
Until Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu was picked, Okunola was widely touted as Tinubu’s favourite to succeed former Governor Akinwunmi Ambode in 2019
In the buildup to the 2023 general elections, a viral WhatsApp post hinted that Okunola would take over from Sanwo-Olu after completing a term in office.
Wale Edun
The Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Wale Edun, is among the long-time allies of President Bola Tinubu. He was among the bright minds that Tinubu assembled to form his cabinet when he became the Lagos State governor in 1999. He served as commissioner for finance.
Edun formed a formidable team with other cabinet members famed for assisting the then governor to reposition the internally generated revenue of Lagos State, increasing it from a paltry N600 million monthly to N35 billion.
Edun’s relationship with Tinubu continued after he completed his two terms in office.
He was mentioned among three Tinubu’s allies former President Muhammadu Buhari could choose as a running mate after he emerged as the presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in 2014.
In 2019, after former President Buhari was reelected, Tinubu reportedly wanted Edun in Buhari’s cabinet as finance minister but was denied by the forces in the presidency.
Edun was a member of Tinubu’s economic team that prepared his presidential election manifesto and was nominated by the former Lagos governor as a member of the Presidential Transition Council after he (Tinubu) was declared the winner of the 2023 presidential election.
Nuhu Ribadu
Ribadu, a former chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, has been quite close to Tinubu since 2008 and was tipped to run for the post of the president in 2011 under the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), a party single-handedly formed by Tinubu.
Adebayo Adelabu
The minister of power is from the popular Adelabu family of Oyo State. But the man is not relying only on family background as he has done well for himself in the business circle and politics, where he flew the flag of the APC in 2019 as its governorship candidate for Oyo State.
Adelabu, who was a deputy governor (operations) of the Central Bank of Nigeria, introduced the categorisation of power consumers into bands.
Yemi Cardoso
Olayemi Michael Cardoso is one of those who were not only sure of an appointment in the Tinubu government but believed to have known the exact office he was going to be assigned.
Having worked with Tinubu as commissioner for economic planning and budget, he was said to have earned the confidence of the then Lagos State governor with the planning and implementation of the state’s budgets.
Segun Osoba
He is seen as the president’s ‘elder brother’ in politics.
It is believed that it was while serving as governor between 1999 and 2003 on the platform of the Alliance for Democracy (AD) with Tinubu that they became very close.
Although Osoba lost his bid to return to the Government House in his state in 2003, he has remained with Tinubu.
Bisi Akande
Abdulkareem Adebisi Bamidele Akande served as one of the governors on the platform of the AD from 1999 to 2003.
He comes with a rich experience in politics, having served as the deputy governor of Oyo State from 1982 to 1983 during the Second Republic following the resignation of Sunday Afolabi as deputy to Bola Ige.
Tinubu supported him to emerge as the interim chairman of the APC when it was formed.
Abu Ibrahim
Ibrahim is one of the few outside the Lagos and South-West circle to be close to the president. He met Tinubu when two of them served in the Senate in 1992 during the Babangida aborted transition programme.
He won election to the Senate on the platform of the then National Republican Convention (NRC) while Tinubu got his ticket on the platform of the Social Democratic Party (SDP).
In a recent interview he said, “We were very compatible, so we decided to become friends in that Senate. That friendship continued to blossom.”
He is believed to have been instrumental to the alliance between Tinubu and Buhari to challenge the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP)-led government, an action that eventually evolved into a merger that birthed the APC.
Alhaji Ibrahim Kabir Masari
He is the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Political and Other Matters.
Masari’s relationship with Tinubu started years back. He was chosen to be the placeholder ahead of a running mate to Tinubu in order to beat the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) deadline for submission of candidates in 2023.
As a senior special assistant, he has maintained a close relationship with the president.
Wole Olanipekun
Olanipekun, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), is another close ally of President Tinubu.
Apart from providing strong legal advice and consultancy services since Tinubu’s time as the governor of Lagos State. Olanipekun led the legal team of the president during the 2023 presidential election petition hearing in Abuja.
His Ikoyi office in Lagos also served as a meeting point for Tinubu and his legal team ahead of the tribunal hearing.
Olanipekun was also co-opted to support former President Muhammadu Buhari during the various legal challenges to his ascendancy to office. Among these are the academic certificate and the server disputes during the 2019 presidential election.
The Minister of Solid Minerals, Dele Alake, is considered one of President Tinubu’s closest allies owing to their longstanding relationship.
The former editor of the defunct Sunday Concord served as Tinubu’s commissioner for information and strategy between 1999 and 2007 when he was the governor of Lagos State.
Their close relationship is believed to have been cemented during the June 12 presidential election annulment period when both men went into exile and joined forces to advocate the demands of the National Democratic Coalition (NADECO), a pro-democracy group pushing for the restoration of the annulled election results.
Alake, who is seen as a product of the political and media structure built by the late MKO Abiola, was expected to head the president’s media team as minister of information after being appointed as Special Adviser to the President on Special Duties, Communications and Strategy in the early days of the administration.
They’re responsible for lack of policy direction – PDP
Reacting, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) blamed the president’s inner circle and some of his close associates for what it called “lack of policy direction by the present administration.”
The party said President Tinubu was not being given the true position of things.
Speaking through its deputy national publicity secretary, Ibrahim Abdullahi, the PDP said, “Those around this president have not been able to deliver. Many of those close to the president, even the appointees, are defective and have also accepted responsibility in a defective system. They have failed to churn out positive policy direction and programmes and give good advice to move Nigeria forward. This is unfortunate, this is a contraption; the more you look, the less you understand.”
Also speaking on the issue, Timothy Osadolor, the deputy national leader of the party, told Weekend Trust that the “people around President Tinubu “don’t even like him. If they like him and are giving him information about the level of poverty and insecurity in Nigeria today, I am sure he will weep profusely and try to make amends. He will try to do something that will alleviate the problem of Nigerians.”
Reacting, the ruling All Progressives Congress said President Tinubu has the prerogative to appoint anyone he wants.
The party’s director of publicity, Alhaji Bala Ibrahim, told Weekend Trust in a telephone interview that the issue of how long the president’s men had known him does not matter in governance.
The ruling party said only the president had the power to determine who to fire and who to retain in his administration.
The party stressed that the president knew those who keyed into his vision and mission and working for the implementation of his “Renewed Hope” agenda for the country.
“If you are assessing the lieutenants of a commander you are indirectly assessing his capability. It is the commander that knows who is acting in consonance with his directive and who is keying into his vision and mission.
“This is one president that has set up a desk for assessing and evaluating the performance of his subordinates. We never had it before,” the APC said.
Additional reports from Baba Martins Negedu, John C. Azu, Afeez Hanafi & Clement Oloyede.
