Meet Tunde, The 34 years old man, current head of the Cabal at Aso Rock.

By Chukwudi Iwuchukwu

 Tunde Sabiu Yusuf, the young man giving Nigerians a sleepless night. He is the head of the Cabal, which operates from Aso Rock, and he is the de facto Nigerian president. 

 Tunde is the nephew of our president, he was named after the late Tunde Idiagbon, the former vice president during the first coming of Buhari. Before 2015, Tunde was just an ordinary recharge card seller in Duara until his uncle Muhammad Buhari won the coveted seat of president, and Tunde’s life changed forever.

 Tunde was appointed as his uncle's private secretary, and according to those in the know, he is the first person to see his uncle in the morning when he wakes up and the last person to see him before he sleeps.

 He wanted to wield his new-found power and access but was check mated by the late Abba Kyari, the president, and the chief of staff who understood the game of chews more than he did at that time, But as a skilled chess player, Tunde waited, bidding for his time.

 It was the demise of Abba Kyari that elevated Tunde to become Nigeria’s unofficial prime minister. At the moment, Tunde is the most influential person alive in Nigeria, even more influential than the president’s wife, Aisha Buhari, with whom he does not see eye to eye as they are sworn enemies.

 Remember when there was a shootout at the presidential villa that resulted in the detention of Aisha Buhari’s police aide? Tunde was in the middle of the drama as he was struggling for power tussle with Aisha, our dear First Lady. 

 Since that time, Tunde has consolidated his power base, and he wields it the way it pleases him. According to Naja’atu Muhammad, the former APC presidential campaign council’s head of the civil society organizations directorate, all the military service chiefs report to Tunde, who then briefs his uncle later before he goes to sleep. 

 Naja’atu Muhammad went so far as to call him the country's de facto prime minister. Truly, that is fitting to describe his power, as he is the most influential Nigerian alive at the moment, as I said before. 

 Tunde, who has vowed that over their dead bodies they would allow Tinubu to succeed Buhari.

 Tunde’s candidate in this election is a man called Atiku Abubakar, and he is working behind the scenes to make Atiku’s aspirations possible. Because of Tunde's influence and what he is doing behind the scenes to scuttle Asiwaju’s ambition, Nasir El Rufai, the governor of Kaduna state, granted interviews to five media organizations, including Arise TV, in one single day, a Guinness World Record by all standards. 

 When DSS came for CBN governor Godwin Emeifele with the heavy allegation that he is sponsoring IPOB, ESN, and unknown gunmen, it was this 34-year-old man who convinced his uncle the president that Emeifele is not as guilty as charged, but rather that what DSS had against Emiefele is a trumped-up charge that is baseless. It was the same Tunde that assured Emeifele of his safety, which prompted Emeifele to come back from where he had run. The CBN boss also moves around with heavy security because the same man is solidly behind him. It could be safe to say that even though Tunde is younger than Emiefele, his Emeifele godfather as he has Emeifele back. 

If Atiku Abubabkar succeeds in becoming our president tomorrow, he will not forget in a hurry the role this young man played in diverting the momentum in the north from Tinubu’s to his ticket, against all odds. 

 The truth is that Tunde is pulling the string against Tinubu’s lifelong ambition behind the scenes without making much noise about it. From the Naira redesign thing to other policies bad-imaging the APC and sabotaging Asiwaju’s ambitions at the moment.