First Lady, Aisha Buhari
Sabiu ‘Tunde’ Yusuf
By Our Reporter
Between First Lady, Aisha Buhari and Personal Assistant and nephew to the president, Sabiu ‘Tunde’ Yusuf, the centre cannot hold and this has culminated to a power tussle in the Presidential Villa.
The Villa was practically thrown into confusion, Thursday night, when the First Lady allegedly accompanied by her children – Zahra, Halima and Yusuf, – took a team of policemen led by her Aide-De-Camp to persuade Tunde following an earlier heated disagreement over his refusal to self-isolate after his trip to Lagos to see his wife, who had just given birth to a boy.
Sources said on reaching the House 8 Guest Chalet of the President, where Tunde resides with his family, there was an altercation between him and the First Lady, her children and her security aides who allegedly confronted Tunde on the need to self isolate.
“This was when Mrs. Buhari’s ADC and four members of her police escort fired some shots into the air as they pursued him. He had been seriously wounded at this time but successfully made it to the residence of Mamman Daura where he sheltered for the night,” said a source in the Presidential villa
The source said the Inspector-General of Police, Mr. Mohammed Adamu, following a briefing on the incident arrived the Presidential Villa Friday morning and ordered Mrs. Buhari’s ADC and all the police personnel attached to her who took part in the altercation and shooting arrested and detained.
“Since Mallam Abba Kyari died, the First Lady and Tunde have not been enjoying cordial relationship’
“She believes Tunde and the President’s other relatives are blocking her from having access to her husband in the Villa. But it is obvious that the President does not want this because he has encouraged Tunde to continue with his job.
“Tunde’s wife just delivered a boy in Lagos. So, he got the President’s approval to fly to Lagos to see her with his two sisters last weekend. He returned to Abuja last Sunday and returned to work on Monday. He was however asked to self-isolate for 14-days because of the coronavirus pandemic by the Chief Personal Security Officer to the President, Abdulkarim Dauda and the President’s Aide-De-Camp, Mohammed Abubakar, but he told them that the President said he shouldn’t.
“On Thursday, when the First Lady heard that he was still coming to work, she asked him to self-isolate but he told her that the President said he didn’t have to. Her insistence led to a heated verbal exchange between them and the President was later informed about this. The President however took sides with Tunde and didn’t see any reason why he should self-isolate at all. He said Zahra and Halima (Buhari’s daughters) left the villa to visit their in-laws when Halima’s husband’s uncle died recently and they didn’t self-isolate on their return. He also pointed to the fact that when his new Chief of Staff, Professor Ibrahim Gambari, went to Lagos too, he didn’t self-isolate on his return, so he didn’t see any reason why Tunde should. So, he overruled her.
“What happened on Thursday night is a big embarrassment. The First Lady and three of her children – Zahra, Halima and Yusuf – took some policemen attached to her, including her ADC to Tunde’s house. They didn’t like the way Tunde spoke to their mother, so they actually went there to quarrel with him. During their confrontation with him, he could not stand them, so he ran for his dear life.
“He was running and they were chasing him and later shot into the air. They chased him to the house of his uncle, Mamman Daura. Of course, they couldn’t enter Mamman’s residence to get Tunde but they shouted and made a lot of threats before they eventually left.
The First Lady has called on the Inspector General of Police to release her security details, she made this request in a Twitter post on Friday.
Mrs Buhari’s post, which came after a series of tweets on COVID-19 on a day Nigeria observes the Democracy Day, reads: “…Finally, I call on the IGP to release my assigned Staff who are still in the custody of the Police in order to avoid putting their lives in danger or exposure to COVID-19 while in their custody.
Additional report from The Will
