Two senior officials – National Security Adviser (NSA), Maj Gen. Babagana Monguno (rtd) and the Chief of Staff (CoS), Mr. Abba Kyari — of President Muhammadu Buhari’s government seem to be at loggerheads over who coordinates national security effort.
On December 9, 2019, the NSA sent a circular — titled: Disruption of National Framework by Unwarranted Meddlesomeness — and copied all Service, Intelligence and Security Chiefs, the Ministers of Defence, Foreign Affairs, Interior and Police Affairs and the Chief of Staff to the President. In the circular which was published by a media outlet, Mr. Monguno accused Mr. Kyari of authoring two circulars in September and November of 2019, whose contents deviated from the directives the President had earlier given.
“Consequently, ONSA scrutinized the documents further and sought clarification from Mr. President who has directed that reference B be disregarded by all parties as it was sent without his endorsement,” the circular reads.
Concerned about how the procedure of passing directives from the President to the heads of security agencies had been allegedly eroded by the Chief of Staff. Mr. Monguno reminded the recipients of the circular that the Chief of Staff is “not a presiding head of security, neither is he sworn to an oath of defending the country.” The NSA added that Mr. Kyari’s job “as it relates to security, stops at conveying Mr. President’s written directives.”
There has been no official statement from the Presidency, Office of the NSA and the Chief of Staff as regards the allegations.
A Rift the President may have Compounded
Mr. Kyari, perceived as the most powerful person in the Presidency, is a long-time ally of Mr. Buhari. As the Chief of Staff since President Buhari’s first term, he plays managerial and advisory roles in addition to determining who sees the president or does not. Sources say many people never got along well with Mr. Kyari, since the first term of Buhari’s government, because he wields a lot of power and allegedly unduly influences the President’s decisions.
In August 2019, when President Buhari announced during the presidential retreat for incoming ministers that “all submissions for my attention or meeting requests be channeled through the Chief of Staff,” there were controversies. The People’s Democratic Party, for instance, cited by a media outlet, said Mr. Buhari had “reduced the ministers to clerical aides, abdicated his responsibilities and ceded it to his Chief of Staff.”
The Presidency responded that Mr. Buhari did not prescribe new roles for the Chief of Staff.
There are divergent views about the rift in the Presidency. While some people are of the opinion that the CoS overrates his powers, others hold that the NSA exhibits an excessive sense of entitlement.
However, many people say that the numerous security challenges the country is witnessing call for effective coordination and that a cold war between personalities within the presidency is counterproductive and distracting.
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