Nigeria’s opposition party, the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) says it is alarmed by news of reported shooting within the precincts of the Presidential villa following reports of disagreements among family members and officials of President Buhari
In a press statement released via it’s official twitter page, the party described as distressing, the report that a members of the President’s family were at the scene of the alleged assault against one of President Buhari’s aides, during which the First Lady’s security details were alleged to have resorted to the use of firearms.
According to reports, trouble started when Sabiu, President Buhari’s nephew, returned to his residence at the precincts of the Presidential Villa, just outside the Pilot gate, after a trip to Lagos where he had gone to meet his wife who had just delivered a new baby.
Citing COVID-19 protocols, it was reported that the First Lady Aisha Buhari and three of her children, Zahra, Halima and Yusuf, accompanied by some of her security aides led by the Aide-de-Camp, on Thursday night went to the residence of Sabiu located just outside the Presidential Villa to demand that he should self-isolate for 14 days, so as not to endanger the first family.
The encounter was said to have degenerated into a heated argument as Sabiu insisted he was not the only aide to travel to Lagos saying that the new Chief of Staff, Prof. Ibrahim Gambari, is in Lagos every weekend till he settles in Abuja, and wondered why the double standard requiring his self isolation for visiting his own wife who just delivered a new baby.
Sabiu, was however said to have returned home after the arguments.
ThisDay sources said as he got home, the first lady in company of her children raided the premises raining abuses, leading to the escape of Sabiu after gunshots were fired by the First Lady’s ADC in an attempt to apprehend the President’s aide, who had to breach walls to run for his life and escape to the nearby residence of President Buhari’s cousin, Mamman Daura, where he spent the night.
Following the reports of the incident which eventually led to the arrest of the Aide-de-camp to the first lady and all the security aides that accompanied her to Sabiu’s residence, the opposition party said “the chaotic situation in the Presidential villa only points to the failure by President Buhari to provide a leadership that can guarantee orderliness in governance and effectively ensure the security of our nation.”
Going further, PDP said “such leadership failure at the highest level has further exposed why the country has been bedeviled by myriads of security and economic problems under President Buhari’s watch in the last five years.”
Demanding for an immediate inquest into the security breaches as well as the alleged violation of COVID-19 ban on inter-state travels by officials and relations of the President, the party urged the national assembly to look into the “persistent infighting” in the Buhari Presidency because according to them, “those in charge of the Presidential villa has not demonstrated the required capacity to engender the needed orderliness for productive governance.”
