WITH FAROOQ A. KPEROGI Ph.D
Before he was sworn in as President in May 2015, Muhammadu Buhari,
without prompting from anybody, publicly told his immediate and
extended family members to stand back from his incoming government. He
even warned that any family member who used his name to peddle
influence would face dire consequences.
I was so impressed by this declaration that in my May 16, 2015 column
titled “6 Reasons Why Incoming Buhari Government Fills Me with Hope,”
I isolated it as one of the six reasons I thought Buhari’s
administration would “represent a qualitative departure from the
legalised banditry that has passed for governance in Nigeria for so
long.” Specifically, I wrote: “Buhari’s symbolic but nonetheless
significant gestures like telling family members to steer clear of his
government and telling aides to obey traffic laws inspire me.”
It has turned out that Buhari lied, as usual. There is no equivalent
in Nigeria’s 59-year history for the height, depth, breadth, and width
of his family members’ offensively brash influence peddling and direct
involvement with and in his government. None at all! Buhari operates
an unabashed “familocracy,” that is, a government that is run by
family members for the benefit of family members.
On November 10, 2019, I used my Twitter and Facebook timelines to
share the names of four biological relatives of Buhari’s who work in
the Presidential Villa. However, further investigations have shown
that there are way more relatives of Buhari’s (and Mamman Daura’s) who
work in the Villa—and in the Katsina State government—than I shared.
Even Buhari family member who are not directly in government are
ruthlessly avaricious influence peddlers. There is no Buhari relative
today, in and out of government, who isn’t a multi-millionaire. In
Daura, they are called “the blood.” They are tastelessly showy and
egotistical. They ride the biggest and most expensive cars, own the
choicest houses in town, and ride roughshod over people less fortunate
than they are.
There’s a widespread joke in Daura that goes something like, “Want to
change your one thousand naira note? Go to Shaiskawa.” Shaiskawa is
the part of Daura town Buhari and his relatives (or “the blood”) come
from. The Buhari family members’ exhibitionistic preening of their
newfound wealth is particularly amusing to Daura people because most
of Buhari’s nouveau-riche relatives used to vegetate in squalid
poverty up until 2015.
Here is a partial list of “the blood” who constitute the nucleus of
Buhari’s familocracy. I’ve confirmed these names from multiple sources
in Daura and the Presidential Villa:
1. Abdulkarim Dauda. He is Buhari’s Personal Chief Security Officer
(PCSO). Like Mamman Daura, he is Buhari’s nephew. His father, Dauda
Daura, is Buhari’s half-brother from the same father. He is de facto
president Mamman Daura’s full biological brother. I exposed a recent
secret memo that Buhari sent to the Nigeria Police (where Abdulkarim
is officially employed as Commissioner of Police after three
unnaturally and undeservedly rapid promotions in three years)
instructing it to circumvent time-honoured public service rules and
extend his service till 2023 even though he should have retired this
year on account of being in service for 35 years.
2. Sabiu “Tunde” Yusuf. He is Buhari’s Private Secretary. Don’t be
deceived by the “Tunde” in his name. It’s just a nickname, probably
inspired by Tunde Idiagbon, Buhari’s deputy when he was a military
dictator. Sabiu is the son of Mamman Daura’s full biological sister by
the name of Hajia Halima (more popularly known as “Hajja Madam” in
Daura) who died last year. As you should know by now, Mamman Daura’s
sister is Buhari’s niece since their father (Dauda Daura) is Buhari’s
much older half-brother.
Sabiu, who is in his 30s, is one of the most powerful people in
Nigeria today. He determines who sees and who doesn’t see Buhari. Only
Mamman Daura and Abba Kyari can overrule him. By several accounts, he
is now a multi-billionaire, although he had no formal work experience
before Buhari became President. He used to sell phone recharge cards
in Daura until 2015!
3. Dauda “Zeze” Habu. He is Senior Personal Assistant to Abba Kyari,
Buhari’s Chief of Staff who is actually the de facto acting
president/VP. His father, Habu Kurma, is Mamman Daura’s younger
brother. That means his father is Buhari’s nephew.
(The formerly unemployed husband of Fatima Mamman Daura—Mamman Daura’s
favorite daughter— is also Abba Kyari’s PA. Fatima, too, is now a
director in the newly created Ministry Of Humanitarian Affairs,
Disaster Management, and Social Development and actually runs the
ministry).
4. Musa Haro. He is PA (Domestic Affairs) to Buhari. His mother, Hajia
Kwalla, is Buhari’s biological sister. Hajia Kwalla is a twin. Her
twin sister is called Hajia Amadodo. Musa appointed his brother,
Hamisu Haro, as his his PA! That’s a PA to the PA! Anything to keep it
in “the blood.”
5. Musa Musa Daura (known more popularly as “Musa Terror” in Daura
because of his notoriety for murderous violence) is PA to Buhari’s ADC
by the name of Lt. Col. M. Lawal Abubakar. Buhari and Musa Terror’s
grandmother, Hajia Amadodo, are full siblings. Lt. Col. Lawal is also
married to Musa Terror’s full sister. It’s noteworthy that Musa
Terror’s father is the Magajin Garin Daura who was kidnapped recently.
6. The House of Representatives member representing the
Daura/Sandamu/MaiAdua Federal constituency by the name of Fatuhu
Muhammad is the son of Buhari’s late older brother (same father, same
mother) by the name of Muhammadu “Mamman” Danbafale. People in Daura
told me Fatuhu, who graduated from ABU with a Third Class degree in
political science in 2009, improperly rode on the coattails of his
uncle to his position; they said he became the APC candidate for House
of Representatives without undergoing a “proper primary” election.
He recently attracted national attention when he revealed, obviously
without intending to, that the land border between Daura and Niger
Republic isn’t closed, contrary to government propaganda.
7. Rabiya Muhammad Daura. She has been nominated as a commissioner in
Kastina State. She is the only woman in the state’s 17-member cabinet.
She is the daughter of Mamman Danbafale (Buhari’s late older brother)
and full sister of Fatuhu Muhammad.
8. Nuhu Dauda. He is an assistant to the Minister of State for
Petroleum, Timipre Sylva, and the family’s “eye” in the ministry. He
is Abdulkarim Dauda’s full brother (see number 1 above). That means he
is Buhari’s nephew since his father is Buhari’s half-brother.
9. Ahmed Rufa’i Zakari. He is Special Adviser to the President on
Infrastructure. He isn’t Buhari’s biological relative, but he is his
relative by marriage and informal adoption. Ahmed’s mother is Mrs.
Amina Zakari, the controversial INEC commissioner who, along with
compromised INEC chairman Mahmood Yakubu, helped Buhari to rig the
2019 election. Buhari’s older sister was married to Amina Zakari’s
father, the late Alhaji Hussaini Adamu. Apart from being Buhari’s
in-law, the late Hussaini Adamu also raised Buhari for some time after
Buhari’s father died, so he was, in a sense, Buhari’s adoptive father.
I got at least a dozen other names of Buhari’s blood relatives who
work in the Presidential Villa and in “lucrative” ministries at the
federal and state levels, but I didn’t have the time—or, frankly, the
inclination—to verify the information from sources because the point
has already been made.
My whole interest in this is to record it for posterity that Nigeria
once had a “president” by the name of Muhammadu Buhari who
gratuitously promised that his nuclear and extended family members
would never participate in his government but who turned out to be the
most nepotistic leader Nigeria ever had; who perpetrated familocratic
excesses with both reckless impunity and unparalleled shamelessness.
Kperogi can be reached via his twitter handle: @farooqkperogi
