FIRST lady Aisha Buhari’s aide-de-camp Usman Shugaba may face disciplinary hearings later on this week as a police management team will meet today to determine what disciplinary action should be taken against him for firing his weapon in the presidential villa.
Last week, Hadjia Buhari’s aide-camp, Usman Shugaba, attempted to force President Muhammadu Buhari’s special assistant, Sabiu Yusuf, into self -isolation over Covid-19 fears. Trouble started when Sabiu, President Buhari’s nephew, returned to his residence in the presidential villa after a trip to Lagos where he had gone to meet his wife who had just delivered a new baby.
Hadjia Buhari and three of her children, Zahra, Halima and Yusuf, accompanied by some of her security aides led went to his residence to demand that he should self-isolate for 14 days, so as not to endanger the first family. However, 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, Professor Ibrahim Gambari, is in Lagos every weekend.
Sabiu questioned why the double standard requiring his self isolation for visiting his own wife who just delivered a new baby. However, Hadjia Buhari refused to accept his explanation, leading Sabiu to flee after gunshots were fired by the first lady’s aide-de-camp, forcing him to escape to the nearby residence of President Buhari’s cousin, Mamman Daura, where he spent the night.
Upon receiving a report about the incident, inspector-general of police Mohammed Adamu, ordered the arrest of the aide-de-camp to the first lady and all the security aides that accompanied her to Sabiu’s residence. He pointed out that the firing of gunshots, no matter the provocation was a major security breach.
Hadjia Buhari has since campaigned for the release of her ADC and today a police management team will sit to determine the matter. Mr Shugaba and some of Hadjia Buhari’s aides will face a panel to determine their fate.
Apparently, the affected security aides will not be restored to the wife of the president following their involvement in the altercation. Apart from Mr Shugaba, a chief superintendent of police, others arrested were Hadjia Buhari’s escort commander, deputy superintendent of police Sheriff Kazeem, who is the son of former inspector-general of police Hafiz Ringim, and four anti-riot policemen.
One presidency source said: “Shooting at the State House is not permitted under any guise. It is a serious security breach that should not have happened and that is why the inspector-general of police ordered the detention of the officers involved.
“The men will face a police panel and if found culpable, may be demoted and redeployed from the Presidential Villa. The ADC Shugaba, fired gunshots in the air after Yusuf jumped a locked gate in a bid to escape and he then narrated the incident to Mamman Daura who informed Mr President, who was very furious and he complained to the inspector-general of police.”
However, Mr Shugaba had denied firing the shots, insisting that the shooting was done by a Department of State Security official. One of Hadjia Buhari’s aides confirmed that the gunshots that were fired emanated from the gun of one of Yusuf’s security aides.
He said it was unfortunate that the police, acting under the instruction of President Buhari’s nephew, Mamman Daura, had decided to take sides with Yusuf and feed lies to the public. He added that it was Yusuf’s security men that were shooting into the air when Hadjia Buhari’s ADC attempted to remove him from the villa.
