More facts have emerged on the scheme by Aso Rock cabal spearheaded by President Muhammadu Buhari’s New Media aide Sabiu Yusuf, aka Tunde, to tarnish the image of the National Security Adviser, Babagana Monguno, a retired Major-General.

Informed sources revealed that the goal of the cabal was to bring corruption charges against Monguno and use same to convince President Buhari to sack the incumbent NSA. Part of the script was to install ex-Chief of Army Staff, COAS, Lt. General Yusuf Burutai (retired) as the new NSA.

A top Aso Rock source confided in our reporter that Burutai who was rewarded with Ambassadorial job alongside other service chiefs has been reluctant to fully embrace the new envoy status “because he prefers to stay behind in Nigeria where he would continue to pull the strings with the cabal to cover up the mess he created while serving as COAS”.

Burutai was alleged to have struck several military hardware deals with members of the cabal especially in the days of the late Chief of Staff to the President, Malam Abba Kyari. It was gathered that the cabal considers Monguno as a stumbling block in its game plan to continue with their sleazy arms and personnel cost deals in the guise of fighting insurgency war.

The unsavoury deals said to be in billions of naira and the lack of cooperation they are getting from Monguno resulted in the plot to paint the NSA in corruption colour and consequently use it as alibi to convince Buhari to sack the NSA.

The remove-Monguno plot started last year after the NSA exposed the underhand and unconstitutional meetings being summoned and presided over by Abba Kyari with the service chiefs, without the knowledge of the NSA.

Aso Rock sources said the cabal had met a brick wall each time they tried to rubbish Monguno before President Buhari who is said to have special love for the NSA. A source specifically said the cabal had used such strategy before and it worked. He recalled how the cabal rubbished the image of former Minister of Agriculture, Audu Ogbeh, who was short-sold to Buhari as incompetent and unable to key into the agriculture blueprint of the Buhari government.

“This was why Audu Ogbeh was not reappointed as minister even when it was obvious that he made giant strides in agriculture working with Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN. Audu Ogbeh’s name was initially on the list but was later yanked off the list by Sabiu Yusuf, and replaced with Alhaji Mohammed Sabo Nanono from Kano before the list was transmitted to the National Assembly,” our source said.

The plot lost its momentum after the death of Kyari on April 17, 2020 but was resurrected shortly after Monguno granted interview to BBC Hausa Service reporter last week in which he expressed concern on the lingering war against terror and the inadequacy of military hardware to effectively prosecute the war.

According to findings, less than 24hrs after Monguno’s interview with the BBC, the cabal led by Yusuf aka Tunde directed the EFCC to fish for “whatever evidence” to indict the NSA.

Part of the moves according to a source conversant with the scheme, is to investigate Brigadier General Jafaru Mohammed, a Director of Finance in the office of the NSA.

General Mohammed is suspected to be a front of the NSA whom they allege has acquired properties on behalf of Monguno.