And so the drama continues in the presidential following a confrontation between the First Lady’s Aide-de-camp, Usman Shugaba, and President Muhammadu Buhari’s Special Assistant, Sabiu Yusuf, according to a report by THISDAY.
The confrontation between the two reportedly ensued when Aisha's aide, Usman Shugaba, attempted to force the President's aide, Sabiu Yusuf, into self -isolation over COVID-19 fears.
According to State House sources per THISDAY, 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, sources said, 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, also known as ‘Tunde’ (believed to have been named after Late Gen. Tunde Idiagbon, Buhari’s deputy during his military regime in the 1980s), was however said to have returned home after the arguments.
As he got home, the first lady in company of her children raided the premises raining abuses, presidential sources who witnessed the incident said, leading to the escape of Sabiu after gu*shots 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.
It was gathered that the Inspector General of Police, Mohammed Adamu, after receiving security report on the incident on Friday where gu*shots were fired in the precincts of the Presidential Villa, ordered the arrest of the Aide-de-camp to the first lady and all the security aides that accompanied her to Sabiu’s residence.
Their arrest, was premised on the fact that firing of gu*shots, no matter the provocation in the presidency, and around the president was a major ‘security breach’.
Aisha in reaction to the incident called on NCDC to do the needful, and requested that the IGP to release her aide.
especially on interstate travel without the necessary exemptions for movement of essentials. Anyone who does that should at the very least be made to under go a 14 days mandatory isolation no matter who the person is, no one should be above the law and the Police command— Aisha M. Buhari (@aishambuhari) June 12, 2020
will do well to remember that.— Aisha M. Buhari (@aishambuhari) June 12, 2020
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.
She tweeted, “That Covid-19 is real and still very much around in our nation is not in doubt. Consequently, I call on all relevant Government Agencies to enforce the Quarantine Act signed by Mr. President and ensure no one is found violating this law and the NCDC guidelines especially on interstate travel without the necessary exemptions for movement of essentials.
"Anyone who does that should at the very least be made to under go a 14 days mandatory isolation no matter who the person is, no one should be above the law and the Police command will do well to remember that.
"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."