The Presidency has said there is nothing wrong in having ‘cabals’ around President Muhammadu Buhari, to help him run the affairs of the country.
Garba Shehu, spokesman to the President, speaking to journalists in Abuja on Sunday, said every government around the world had such people.
He said, “What is the meaning of a cabal? I just googled the Thesaurus and among many other definitions, what they are saying is that a cabal means ‘conspire, intrigues, mystique, occult, secret.’
“There is no government in this country that we have had that some people were not accused of being a cabal in that government and it is because every administration and every president must have a secretariat.
“Every president must have people who advise him. It is not a sin, it is not an offence to have people that you take into confidence.
“Elsewhere, they call it ‘kitchen cabinet,’ but in our own country, we are being derogatory and we term them cabals so that it will tarnish their own good standing.”
Furthermore, Shehu noted some of the persons referred to members of cabals were successful people, who were making extreme sacrifices to serve in government.
He said, “Some of them have no need to be around government. In fact, to some of our elite, the President is a bad man because you cannot go to him and say give me oil well and he will sign the paper and give you.
“So, we understand the game that is playing out and there is always a price, in any case, to pay for that kind of exposure. Even the kind of things that are being said of the President himself, if he did not offer himself to serve, people would not even have the chance to say them against him. So, we will live with it, we will accept it because it goes with the territory.”
