by Dolapo Adelana

Following the Senate’s rejection of Ibrahim Magu as substantive chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) for the second time, two former Nigerian leaders have said President Muhammadu Buhari has lost control of his government.

The former leaders made the assertion while speaking with Premium Times, saying the president’s quest to make Magu chairman had been undermined by the Department of State Service (DSS).

Both former commanders-in-chief who spoke on the condition of anonymity said Buhari should be concerned about the direction of his administration.

“I strongly reject the notion that Buhari is helpless in his own cabinet,” one of the former leaders said. “I would never have allowed such humiliating insubordination in my administration. It was unthinkable that my own appointee would oppose my nominee at the National Assembly. No one could have tried that with me. He or she would have paid dearly for it.”

“What happened showed clearly that Buhari is not in charge.”

The second leader said what happened in Magu’s case was “entirely inconceivable in a presidential system anywhere in the world.”

He posited that Buhari might actually be behind the “repeated humiliation of his own nominee”.

“Unless he is the one behind the whole controversy by deliberately double-dealing with his own nominee and other subordinates, there’s no way I would have thought a situation like this will play out as someone who had been privileged to hold that position.

“As far as I am concerned, things seem to have fallen apart. It is also possible that he has never been in control. It is very unfortunate.”

Speaking on the controversy, one of the former leaders said what played out in the Senate was a clear indication that the president had lost grip of his government.

“For me, it’s clearly disrespectful. His (Buhari’s) appointees are hostile towards him and I think that’s not something we see regularly in governments across the world.”

Speaking futrher, the former leader said “not a single one” of his appointees ever made any attempt that could “remotely be deemed an act of insubordination.”

“Never did any of my appointees even tried to override a decision that had been concluded.”

One of the leaders recommended that Buhari must rejig his cabinet if he hoped to regain control of his administration.

“I will recommend an urgent cabinet shake-up if there’s a way he could go about that before it’s too late,” the former leader said.

“That’s about the most important decision to take after today.”