Yesterday, Hajo Sani made preparations to leave Nigeria by British Airways to underscore her undue supervisory role over Aisha Buhari, wife of Nigeria’s president, and be the chaperon again!
She wasn’t with Mrs. Buhari when she gave the BBC interview, she’s scrambling to go to London before the first lady proceeds to Brussels and say more. They are angry as hell and are smarting from the exposé. Unfortunately for them, they cannot prevent BBC from airing the remaining part of the interview and we are waiting with bated breath to hear it and to read it.
President Muhammadu Buhari is a thorough Northern conservative who loves his wife. His winning the election changed all that as power mongers encircled him and stifled his wife. Aisha must have had it up to her neck and totally exasperated before she spilled it all out in London.
My sources told me the influence of Hajo dates back to when Buhari married Aisha. Hajo was like the supervisory guide her. After she grew and carved her own niche and the husband won the presidency, the cabal engineered Hajo as her SA to cage her. There is no love lost between them.
Hajo at about 10 years older is very overbearing. They hate each other like Satan and Angel Michael – bare knuckle hatred. Hajo was a minister under General Sani Abacha. Like people with her kind of mold, she hugs power like a bodysuit. The BBC interview was not a mistake. She has been totally encircled an alienated from her husband with Hajo usurping her role. She had to spill her frustrations and prod her husband to leave a legacy.
How does this concern you and I? The same powerful forces who emasculated the late President Musa Yar’Ardua are back in business. Kingibe is back! Imagine! Hajo Sani, General Monguno, the national security adviser, Abba Kyari, the president’s chief of staff, and the big Cahuna – Mamman Daura.
One of my sources this morning told me; “There is nothing human about Mamman Daura. He is evil. He does not talk. Nigeria cannot progress if he is alive and near Buhari.” I was shaken!
Who is Mamman Daura? Why is he very powerful? Mamman Daura is one of the vestigial remains of the Kaduna Mafia. A dying breed whose grip on power receded after the death of Abacha. The origins of the Kaduna Mafia revolves around the demise of the first republic. The loss of many Northern leaders in the 1966 coup prodded a group of Northern civil servants to rally around and oppose the new government of General Aguiyi Ironsi. The group, a diverse mixture of aristocrats and civil servants were predominantly Muslim and based in Kaduna.
Many of the Kaduna Mafia’s members were educated at the famous Barewa College in Zaria, and had demonstrated a certain level of managerial competence in comparison to some of their older contemporaries. They were known for their intelligence, commitment to the traditional values. and socio-political interests of Northern Nigeria.
Members were involved in varied aspects of the Nigerian nation, they were bank directors, ministers, military colonels and owners of business; their main differentiating symbol was the prominence of economic interest as a driving factor in their activities.
The group thrived on an elaborate network of power alliances among northern aristocrats and government sympathizers who favored the groups pro-northern and Islamic bent. Famous members and allies includes Adamu Ciroma, Mamman Daura, Ibrahim Tahir, Mahmud Tukur, General Shehu Musa Yar’Adua and Muhammadu Buhari.
Unfortunately, as time revealed, they all departed from the ideals championed by Sir Ahmadu Bello. They looked after themselves and cared less about the people they had planned to protect. It was all about power.
By the 1980’s Buhari took a nationalistic view with a mission to restore values and put Nigeria straight. He did not hesitate to jail anyone whom he disliked or thought was a threat to his government. His reputation as a patriot and lover of Nigeria as an indivisible entity emanated from there. He burnished his credentials by decisively destroying the Maitatsine sect and putting Islamic extremism out of the North until Babagida happened to us.
Can Buhari be trusted to take the necessary step to retrieve Nigeria from the grip of his nephew – Mamman Daura? I am not sure. He once withdrew Mamman Daura’s aides, revoked his security and instructed them not to allow him into Aso Rock.
Somehow, Mamman Daura found his way back and became more virulent. A grip on Buhari by Daura is a grip on Nigeria. Can Buhari be trusted to do the needful? I don’t think so.
We must help him. He is helpless and totally caged! He cannot transcend the old order. His wife is way ahead of him on this and she wants her husband’s name in gold. The BBC interview is a cry for help.
For Aisha to take that step in a conservative Islamic family is an unusual step. To do it in London is very telling. It is a very bold, courageous and calculated step. I respect her courage. This morning, my sources fear for her life in the hands of this cabal.
We must let them know that Aisha must not be silenced. She must not be killed. Those around Buhari are great power mongers with careless disregard for Nigeria. Just power for its own sake. Power that has not translated into anything for the teeming Northern youths and Nigerians in general.
My friends, let us galvanise the social media against Mamman Daura and his thieving factotum – Abba Kyari. Let us draw international attention to them and pressure them out of Aso Rock. We did it with “We Are Ready” campaign for the 2015 elections. We must do it again.
Bamidele Ademola-Olateju is a member of the editorial board of Premium Times where she runs a weekly column. She tweets from @olufunmilayo.
The opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the author.
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