There are strong indications that President Muhammadu Buhari is set to name one of his closest allies, Col. Hameed Ibrahim Ali (rtd) as his Chief of Staff.
The former military administrator of Kaduna State is a consistent Buhari advocate who worked with the president as Chief of Staff during the last electioneering and was also with him during his stay at the Defence Guest House. Ali, who once served as secretary of the Arewa Consultative Forum, ACF, was over the weekend said to have moved ahead of other contenders in the race for the job of the president’s top aide. The president is said to be satisfied with his military background, antecedents, modest lifestyle and anti-corruption profile, and he is convinced Col. Ali would do well in that office.
While it is not clear if the 60-year-old Ali is still acting as chief of staff since President Buhari relocated to the State House, he is often seen in the State House every working day, coordinating movements and directing the affairs of the president while reportedly awaiting his official announcement as chief of staff to the president. A source close to the president told Nigerian Pilot that the choice of Ali for the office was a square peg in a square hole, having functioned in that capacity for a long time to the satisfaction of the president. Ali, who played very active role in the funding of Buhari’s campaign as head of the Crowd Funding Project, hails from Kano State. He was earlier rumoured to have been pencilled for the top job of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, but our source said “the president finds the retired Colonel more useful in a more strategic and closer capacity than that.”
-Nigerian Pilot
