{"id":24695,"date":"2020-02-20T13:05:57","date_gmt":"2020-02-20T12:05:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/?p=24695"},"modified":"2020-02-20T13:05:57","modified_gmt":"2020-02-20T12:05:57","slug":"abba-kyari-overrides-buharis-decisions-five-other-takeaways-from-nsa-mongunos-memo","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/?p=24695","title":{"rendered":"Abba Kyari overrides Buhari\u2019s decisions, five other takeaways from NSA Monguno\u2019s memo"},"content":{"rendered":"

President Muhammadu Buhari\u2019s chief of staff, Abba Kyari, is one of the major impediments to Nigeria\u2019s national security interest, the National Security Adviser, Babagana Monguno,\u00a0wrote in a memo last December.
\nMr Monguno\u2019s hands-on account of a connection between Mr Kyari\u2019s alleged \u2018meddlesomeness\u2019 and an acute spectre of insecurity that has clutched the country was contained in a series of confidential circulars he addressed to top administration officials on national security.
\nThe NSA also accused the chief of staff of sidestepping the president\u2019s directive to impose his own decision for implementation, a claim that social media commentary said was all but a direct accusation of treason against Mr Kyari.
\nThe revelations, first published by\u00a0PREMIUM TIMES\u00a0on Monday and Tuesday, appeared to undercut an integral aspect of Mr Buhari\u2019s response to critics: that there is unity amongst security chiefs towards a common interest of defeating fledgling terrorists and armed bandits \u2014 rather than admit apparent clumsiness and even a crack in his team.
\nThe security chiefs have also, until now, declined to openly acknowledge a gulf so wide between them that it had become largely unworkable for them to see eye-to-eye on serious security challenges that have left the country reeling from cascading violence.
\nIn media interviews recently, Chief of Army Staff Tukur Buratai said insecurity was being confronted across board in the Buhari administration.
\nBut Mr Monguno\u2019s memo showed he and other service chiefs have been taking controversial orders from Mr Kyari, despite warnings from the NSA that such practice was not only unconventional but also in violation of the Constitution.
\nIt was unclear how the presidency has been handling the fallout from the disclosure of Mr Monguno\u2019s memo, with Mr Kyari and spokespersons Femi Adesina and Garba Shehu dodging repeated requests for comment.
\nHere are six takeaways from the NSA\u2019s memos published PREMIUM TIMES:<\/strong>
\nThe chief of staff and the national security adviser are at war<\/strong>
\nThe first observation from memo is that Messrs Monguno and Kyari, two of Mr Buhari\u2019s most powerful and worthwhile aides, are locked in a bitter confrontation amidst raging insecurity.
\nIf there was any doubt about what was happening in Mr Buhari\u2019s government, ample rumours have always been rife, the leaks have now shed an unambiguous insight into what has been going on. And, for the most part, Nigerians can overwhelming judge it does not augur any useful benefit to national security.
\nMr Kyari has been overriding decisions already taken by the president<\/strong>
\nPerhaps the most potent of allegations raised against the chief of staff by the NSA was that he has been flagrantly discarding decisions already taken by the president to impose his own recommendation(s) on the government. It was a jarring allegation that borders on treasonable felony.
\nIf the NSA\u2019s claim is proven, Mr Kyari\u2019s action would have made a mockery of Nigerian executive powers, which make it illegal to disobey a lawful directive of the president, on whose pleasure everyone down the executive chain of command \u2014 including members of the military and other law enforcement outfits \u2014 serves.
\nAs an immediate step to curb further \u201cbreaches of procedure\u201d, Mr Monguno reminded all security chiefs to stop recognising any directives from the chief of staff that do not carry the minutes of presidential decisions, or at least bear the president\u2019s signature.
\n\u201cOther than direct verbal directives from the President, written directives emanating from Mr President would be conveyed with a copy of his manuscript directive or at minimum, bear his signature,\u201d Mr Monguno wrote in the memo.
\nMr Kyari still wields a domineering influence in the administration<\/strong>
\nSince Mr Buhari settled down in office in 2015, Mr Kyari\u2019s role as the chief of staff has made him perhaps the most-courted associate of the president, arguably more than the president\u2019s wife and other family members.
\nThe chief of staff\u2019s influence has seen him exposed to some of the worst scandals of the administration. Shortly after telecoms giant, MTN, was slammed with a record fine in 2015, Mr Kyari was the one who allegedly played the middleman in negotiating the fines, a role that threw up allegations of fraud, Sahara Reporters reported.
\nAn MTN official who allegedly played a key role in the negotiation lost her job amidst the controversy, but Mr Kyari held on to his position, even going on to take part in bigger deals on government\u2019s behalf.
\nMr Kyari\u2019s influence was also a matter of serious concern for Aisha Buhari, the president\u2019s wife, who has repeatedly lashed out at the chief of staff for allegedly \u2018caging\u2019 her husband and rendering her redundant in his government.
\nLast November, PREMIUM TIMES obtained documents showing Mr Kyari overriding Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo on a crucial decision over ruga projects, a series of economic palliatives designed to curtail the herdsmen crisis.
\nIn his memo, Mr Monguno said Mr Kyari was issuing directives to service chiefs without his knowledge as the NSA, nor the knowledge of the defence minister who, by law, also has significant supervisory role over security.
\nIt was unclear when Mr Buhari began his friendship with Mr Kyari, but there is little question that it has remained deep and robust since 2015.
\nWhen Mr Buhari was reappointed in 2019, he issued a firm ordinance to all his appointees to clear through Mr Kyari on any matter that requires presidential attention. The president did not even single out his vice-president as an exception to that restriction.
\nA police equipment contract gone awry<\/strong>
\nWhile it remained difficult to categorically say what caused the rift between Messrs Kyari and Monguno,\u00a0the memo provided a hint\u00a0that a contract for police equipment might have contributed to it, at least.
\nThe contract was said to have been entered with United Arab Emirates government in 2016 by the president himself.
\nAt the time the contract was discussed, Mr Monguno said, there was an understanding that International Golden Group, a Dubai-based defence and security dealer, was the firm favoured to land the contract, whose value was undisclosed even though security sources described it as \u2018lucrative\u2019.
\nMr Monguno said Mr Kyari set aside the agreement Mr Buhari entered with the Emirati Crown Prince and decided to look for another contractor to execute the contract. This, the NSA said, was infuriating because it was capable of portraying Nigeria as an unserious ally before the Emirati government.
\nMr Monguno\u2019s letter was in December 2019, it was unclear whether the stalemate had been resolved as of mid-February 2020 when the memo was leaked.
\nMr Kyari \u201cwas holding sensitive meetings with security chiefs and diplomats without the NSA\u201d<\/strong>
\nMr Monguno said Mr Kyari was summoning security chiefs, these usually include the chief of army staff, chief of air staff, chief of naval staff, police inspector-general, civil defence commandant, the interior minister, defence minister and a host of other agency heads, without inviting him or even informing him about it.
\nForeign diplomats based in Nigeria, including even ambassadors, were allegedly holding sensitive meetings with Mr Kyari without the NSA.
\nMr Monguno said the practice was \u2018unprofessional\u2019 and a deviation from decades-long convention on such meetings. He did not mention any countries\u2019 ambassadors as taking part in those illegal meetings that could threaten Nigeria\u2019s national security and economic interest.
\nIt was unclear whether the ambassadors that allegedly attended the meetings knew, or should know, that such meetings were questionable in the first place.
\nThe chief of staff is merely an aide to the president<\/strong>
\nMr Monguno further tore into Mr Kyari by emphasising that his role as the chief of staff to the president was merely symbolic and not grounded in Nigerian Constitution and other extant laws derived therefrom.
\nNigeria practices constitutional democracy in the manner of the United States. But the role of a chief of staff only became a feature of the Nigerian presidency in 1999 under former President Olusegun Obasanjo. Successive presidents have named a chief of staff, a role that quickly became a force in the hierarchical structure of government.
\nMr Monguno\u2019s argument was that the chief of staff did not swear to a constitutional oath and should, therefore, not be seen issuing directives that carry serious implications for the nation.
\nAnd when it comes to national security, Mr Kyari\u2019s job \u201cstops at conveying Mr President\u2019s written directives,\u201d the NSA argued.
\nBy Premium Times<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

President Muhammadu Buhari\u2019s chief of staff, Abba Kyari, is one of the major impediments to Nigeria\u2019s national security interest, the National Security Adviser, Babagana Monguno,\u00a0wrote in a memo last December. Mr Monguno\u2019s hands-on account of a connection between Mr Kyari\u2019s alleged \u2018meddlesomeness\u2019 and an acute spectre of insecurity that has clutched the country was contained […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":24696,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5777,15,7],"tags":[31,101,1033],"class_list":["post-24695","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-features","category-jobs","category-news","tag-buhari","tag-kyari","tag-monguno"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24695","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=24695"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24695\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=24695"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=24695"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=24695"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}