Mr. Abba Kyari, President Muhammadu Buhari's controversial Chief of Staff, is exploiting the President's ill-health, sources have told SaharaReporters. Mr. Kyari, disclosed sources, has prevented the suspension of Mr. Jalal Arabi, Permanent Secretary of the State House from taking effect, as ordered by President Buhari.
Sources told SaharaReporters that Mr. Arabi has been suspended by the President, but the suspension was stopped from taking effect by Mr. Kyari, to whom the Permanent Secretary is very close.
The President was said to have suspended Mr. Arabi over a series of indiscretions, which included his refusal to pay State House staff for up to six months. He was said to have since paid much of the arrears, leaving only two months outstanding. Mr. Arabi is said to owe his position to the Chief of Staff.
Sources told SaharaReporters that Mr. Arabi failed the examination into the Permanent Secretary cadre, but Mr. Kyari facilitated his appointment without an interview.
His failure to pay State House workforce on time was said to have sparked widespread misgivings among the staff, many of whom have9o the finances seriously stretched.
Mr. Arabi is said to be a brother-in-law to Mr. Adamu Muazu, former National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), who owned the building in which $45million was recently discovered in Ikoyi, Lagos, by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission.
Mr. Kyari, said sources, has ensured a slash in the budget of the President's office, a development that the staff are not happy about.
"Everybody in the Villa is now suffering. They fuel their cars from their pockets and of course travel as much as six times without estacode," said a source. The lean situation, added the source, has forced many of the staff to start seeking transfer from the Villa.
The staff explained that the budget slash was done to clip the wings of the President's wife, Aisha, whose office has no budget and is solely reliant on the President's.
Villa sources told SaharaReporters that Mr. Kyari, his blue-eyed boy, Mr. Arabi, and other members of the kitchen cabinet are taking full advantage of the President's failing health. They are said to be the ones behind the plot not to take him abroad for further treatment.
The scheme is to ensure that Vice President does not assume full presidential powers. The cabal remains comfortable because it has control, through Mr. Kyari, over the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC). Ministers and governors are said to have been waiting for weeks now for their files to be signed.