Cabal should not interfere with governance – Professor Fagge

Professor Kamilu Sani Fagge is a political scientist at the Bayero University, Kano. In this interview with Weekend Trust, the academic said that in other climes, although cabals are powerful and influential, they rarely interfere with the day-to-day running of the government, unlike what obtains in Nigeria.

What is your impression of the men around President Tinubu?

In many countries all over the world, there are certain formal and informal groups that exercise influence on the president. Formerly, they were known as inner or kitchen cabinet, comprising confidants of the president. They are usually very loyal; and they are the ones that exercise great influence on policies made by the president. Usually, based on the relationship with the president they exert such influence.

Secondly, there is what is known as a deep state—a group of people that are very influential and close to the government. They exercise powerful influence on the government.

Usually, in other climes, kitchen cabinets of the deep state are formal and constitutionally recognised; and sometimes, the president formally appoints them to such positions. It may be a group of ministers, personal friends and others that are very close to the president. They exercise influence but don’t interfere the way we are seeing it in developing countries, especially here in Nigeria.

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Why do we always have a cabal who sometimes shield the president from the people?

What we are having now is a group of people who tend to shield the president from the people; and they exercise a lot of influence. Most of them are personal acquaintances to the president. Sometimes they may include his wife, children, relatives or former political acquaintances. He would bring them together and they would become so powerful that they dictate the tune of public policies and shield the president from the electorate or the society, to the extent that he may not be aware of what is going on in the country.

We have had it so many times in our history. Remember that during Yar’adua we had people that were so powerful that even when he was ill, they did not allow Nigerians to know the actual situation. They did so many things that were unconstitutional; and therefore, wrong.

Even during the time of Buhari, we had a cabal that directed state policies. In fact, they became so powerful that even constitutionally recognised institutions had to go through them. And sometimes they hijacked policies initiated by constitutionally recognised institutions. 

Some of the powerful people around the president worked with him when he was the governor of Lagos State. But some people believe that managing Nigeria is not the same as managing Lagos. What do you say to that?

There are very few people directly influencing the policies of the government. Unfortunately, some of them are his political acquaintances or relatives that have been with him. The reality is that those people are the ones he had links with when he was governor. But now, they are trying to make him act as if the policies he took in Lagos are applicable to Nigeria. That is why people are crying. Nigeria is more complex than Lagos.

The president is not for the cabal but Nigeria because he was elected by Nigerians, so he has to look beyond such group of persons.

What is the way forward for the country?

The way out of this problem is for the president to accept the fact that he is a democratically elected president. He must be responsible to Nigerians, not very few members of a cabal.

The president must open other channels of communication from which he will know and hear about the yearnings and aspirations of Nigerians.

Whatever members of the cabal think the president wants is what they will let him know; and they will shield facts from him. So, he has to acquire such knowledge and facts from other sources, after all, he has so many informal and formal channels by which he can know what is happening in the country. Formally, there are channels in security agencies saddled with the responsibility of informing the president. Then informally, he has other contacts and trustees in other places. I think the sooner the president or any leader is open to the  people the better for him and the country.