Garba Shehu, the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity has described the cabals within the presidency as respectable Nigerians not hungry people.
This statement was uttered as a defence when Garba Shehu appeared on Channels Television’s Politics Today on December 25.
Shehu also debunked claims of some people that the cabals are the ones influencing key decisions in President Buhari’s government.
While speaking on Channels TV, the Senior Special Assistant to President on Media and Publicity emphasised that the cabal in the presidency are not hungry individuals and do not deserve the criticism they get from Nigerians.
He also recalled how Nigerians believed former Presidents Umaru Yar’adua and Goodluck Jonathan’s cabinets were influenced by cabals.
Garba Shehu said;
“A lot of people who are being dragged into this cabal thing, they are respectable Nigerians who have achieved a lot for themselves and for the nation. They are not there as hungry people who are there to grab things for themselves.”
The Presidential spokesperson who refused to join words with first lady Aisha Buhari over claims of her husband being a willing tool to members of the cabal which allegedly include a relative of the president, Mamman Daura; an associate of the president, Isa Funtua; and the Chief of Staff to the president, Abba Kyari, he however dispelled rumours of the cabal members having a sinister motive.
Garba Shehu maintained that it is a privilege to be appointed into the President’s cabinet and also warned Nigerians against attaching the ‘cabal’ tag to certain individuals simply because they offered to serve the nation by being close to the President.
He said;
“Nigerians have formed the practice by labelling people that are in some advisable positions of the President as a cabal.
“People (cabals) should not be labelled negatively simply because they have offered themselves to support the President of this country.”