“Warning our marginalisation by cabals constitutes security threat” – Buhari’s Bodyguard

According to bodyguard about 16 months after the 2015 presidential elections, the only reward they got for their efforts during the campaigns was N20,000 paid to them in January and February 2015.

Bodyguards who worked for Muhammadu Buhari in the months leading up to the 2015 general elections have protested against their exclusion by those they described as cabals in the government.

The Punch reports that spokesperson for the group, Badiru Olabiyi Balogun and three other members, Audu Odemeho, Kasim Abdullahi Hassan and Zubairu Idris, at a press briefing on Thursday August 11, alleged that “some cabals have hijacked the president”.

They said many of the key actors in Buhari’s government, who did not work for him, have denied them access to him, warning that their marginalisation constitutes security threat to the nation.

“Right now, we need Mr. President to appreciate our hard work for him. We need Mr. President to recognise the fact that we have lost everything because we championed the change agenda.

“Definitely, it is not just our exclusion that is a security threat to the country. Anything that would deny any man his dues and legitimate rights can be concluded to mean a security threat because when you don’t get your dues and what is rightly due for you, then you are opened to a lot of temptations.2So, we are indeed a security threat”, Balogun stated.

They said haven served President Muhammadu Buhari as his personal bodyguards during the electioneering campaign, they deserved to be recognised, compensated and remunerated, considering the volume of work and gravity of the sacrifices they made for the president to assume the office he had desired all these years.

“We had to abandon things that were so dear to us, including our families and the things we were doing before because all of us needed change. We believed that we had all it takes. And now, having done all that we did, nobody has recognised our efforts. All through the 15 months and 90 days of the campaign, not a dime was given to us”, Balogun said.

One of the aggrieved men, Zubairu, said that recently, when he went to the Mosque in Aso Rock to worship, the president was elated and exclaimed: “Zubairu (Idris), where have you been? I’ve been looking for you.”

Zubairu said he was thereafter warned by an aide to the president to steer clear and never come back to the mosque again for prayer.

“One of the President’s aides warned me never to near or enter the mosque again for worship. He specifically told me to go and worship Allah in another mosque and not the one in Aso Villa because God is everywhere,” he said.

Meanwhile, a report by Premium Times says Nigerians who supported President Muhammadu Buhari in the 2015 election, are now, not only disappointed in his government, but apologising to other citizens who they may have convinced to vote for the All Progressives Congress at the period.

Many of these former supporters are not happy and think that the president lacks the political will and capacity to fight the many challenges he inherited and for which former President Goodluck Jonathan was booted out of office through the election.