El Rufai’s Politics of Desperation – THISDAYLIVE

In his heightening tirades against his successor, Senator Uba Sani, former Governor of Kaduna State, Mallam Nasir El- Rufai continues to show all too glaringly, his predilection for high-wire mischief.

Let’s be clear, El-Rufai’s acuity has really never been in doubt. For the former Governor, facts have rarely mattered as much as appeals to belief have.

El-Rufai over the years, gained traction by passing himself off as an agitator of sorts, a ‘reformer’, whose primary mission is to expose the ills of so-called mainstream politicians – apparently without regard for how this is achieved.

In contemporary political lexicon, ‘alternative fact’ is loosely defined as an “alternative interpretation” of a fact to suit one’s political or ideological purposes. Whether such an alternate interpretation is, or is not valid typically depends upon the fact in question, the person presenting this fact and how it has been interpreted (or misinterpreted).

In his latest political quests, El-Rufai continues to unleash alternative facts to assail facts and reasons.

Unarguably a master in obfuscating irrefutable truths with alternative facts, El- Rufai is currently deploying this reprehensible trait in his latest occupation of ceaselessly smearing his predecessor, Governor Sani, the National Security Adviser (NSA), Mallam Nuhu Ribadu and President Bola Tinubu.

In spite of the façade he keeps putting up, the former Governor of Kaduna State clearly wants President Tinubu to fail very abysmally, primarily because his original expectation to be one of the key players in the administration was haplessly dashed.

It must be noted that this is not the first time El-Rufai would be setting out to mercilessly harm an administration that snubbed him.

He did exact same thing to the administration of the late President Umar Musa Yar’Adua. It was common knowledge, at least to insiders, that following Yar’Adua’s electoral victory in the presidential polls of 2007, El-Rufai, then a very influential member of the cabinet of President Olusegun Obasanjo (as the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory) and a chieftain of the then ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), had carved out a super ministry – the Federal Ministry of Energy, for himself in the in-coming Yar’Adua administration.

The pattern and storyline at the time were same as what played out shortly after Asiwaju Tinubu won the Presidential election in 2023. The story was beautifully curated and sold to the public, that both the departing President Obasanjo and the in-coming President Yar’Adua were “begging” the infallible El-Rufai to remain as a Minister “to fix Nigeria’s Power problems.”

To cut a long story short, President Yar’Adua eventually preferred to dine with El-Rufai with a very long spoon. A quick perusal of President Obasanjo’s post-office memoir, My Watch, would offer any discerning person a hint as to why El-Rufai was left out of that administration. Of course, El-Rufai never ever forgave this snub. He mercilessly savaged the Yar’Adua administration till the then President died in office.   

In his ‘war’ against the Tinubu administration, El Rufai typically, is deploying revisionism; re-writing history at every turn. It is not true that he did not want to be part of the administration of President Tinubu.

On the contrary, El Rufai was, at first, angling for the position of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation. The emergence of Dr. Tajudeen Abbas, who like him, is from Kaduna State (and of course from the north-west political zone), as the choice of the ruling APC as the Speaker of the House of Representatives, upstaged this his initial permutation. With the Office of the Speaker now effectively zoned to the North-west, it became apparent that same geo-political zone would not produce the Secretary to the Government of the Federation.

Faced with this reality, El-Rufai, intensified reverse psychology on President Tinubu.

The “Accidental Public Servant,” stepped up his modus operandi: “I want nothing,” “I am burnt out, I want to retire for younger persons” and of course, the all-time classic: “I am going back to school.” Not particularly familiar with El Rufai’s ways, President Tinubu actually believed that the man was serious about his resolve not to be included in his cabinet. How mistaken! 

Meanwhile, El Rufai was angling for a position of a super minister –  The Minister of  an enhanced Ministry  of Power that would also include the gas component of the nation’s petroleum sector. In fact, he actually took a tour of the Federal Ministry of Power with his team. I am very sure that senior officials of the Ministry would readily recall and confirm this visit. Is that the action of a man who did not want the job? He cleverly activated proxy channels to have President Tinubu “beg” him to accept the offer.

To protect the confidentiality and dignity of the very prominent persons that prevailed on President Tinubu to include El-Rufai in the list of his ministerial nominees to the Senate, I shall not mention their names here. However, several persons close to President Tinubu confirmed that he was shocked at the ease with which El-Rufai grabbed the offer when he was eventually invited to see the President. 

Contrary to the tales El-Rufai keeps telling, very adverse security reports against him were indeed brought to the attention of the leadership of the Senate during the ministerial screening processes. He knows this to be a fact. I will not dwell on this.

In any case, the nation’s security agencies, especially the Department of State Services (DSS), seldom make such adverse reports public. The reports are usually for the consumptions and consequent actions of the President (who nominated the candidate) and the Senate leadership. El Rufai, who clearly knows better, plays mind games each time he retorts in media chats that the adverse report on him be made public.

He knows the DSS and sister agencies do not function that way. The general belief is that the findings and the recommendations of the security agencies, especially the DSS, must have been too weighty for President Tinubu to gloss over.

El Rufai, for reasons best known to him, wants the administration of President Tinubu to crash like a pack of cards. And of course, misery likes company. He has been shuttling around – including joining another political party, ostensibly shopping for, and recruiting other persons he perceives to be in war mode against President Tinubu. Very predictably, El Rufai is resorting to the old and jaded order: “The North is angry.” Who made him the spokesman of the North? The same North he almost burnt to ashes in the eight years he mis-governed Kaduna State? And his very cheap slogan that “the North is angry”, is not even a true presentation or reflection of the facts. A whole lot of Southerners are also not happy with the very painful outcomes of some of the reforms the Tinubu administration has engendered.

However, discerning Nigerians across the country and beyond, are well aware that, in spite of the pains, these reforms are necessary pills the nation must swallow in the bid to eventually bring about the transformation and the much-needed advancement that Nigeria, Africa’s most populous nation and biggest economy, truly needs.

El-Rufai is well aware that it will not be easy to bring down the Tinubu administration. His strategy is to first make the administration vulnerable by discrediting and weakening key allies of the President, especially those of them from Northern Nigeria. Hence his venomous target for destruction of the hard-working National Security Adviser (NSA), Mallam Ribadu and the ebullient and intensely popular Governor of Kaduna State, Senator Sani.

Pursuant to his mission of sullying the reputation of the NSA, Mallam Ribadu, the former Governor of Kaduna State is alleging that he (NSA Ribadu) stopped him (El Rufai) from being a Minister because Ribadu wants to eliminate all possible rivals in the North to ostensibly pave way for himself in the presidential elections of 2031.

“Just last week, I got an information that Ribadu is asking everyone to get me indicted by whatever means,” the former governor alleged in an Arise TV interview.

Of course, this is a lie carefully concocted by El-Rufai to grab attention and possibly sympathy, even when he is the aggressor. It therefore did not come to many as a surprise when the very busy NSA, who knows him all-too well, calmly admonished Nigerians to ignore the former Governor whose reputation as a liar precedes him. 

In a similar, albeit garrulous, manner, El-Rufai recently accused Governor Sani, of diverting local government (LG) funds to purchase properties in Seychelles, South Africa, and the United Kingdom. Yet he did not provide an iota of proof to back the outlandish claim. Again, not surprisingly, the Association of Local Government Chairmen (ALGON), Kaduna State Chapter, has since debunked this lie by El-Rufai. At a joint press briefing in Kaduna, the Local Government Chairmen firmly repudiated the former governor’s atrocious claim. 

“As the umbrella body of Local Governments in Kaduna State, we wish to state as follows:

The allegations by Mallam Nasir el-Rufai against Governor Uba Sani are false, patently absurd and ill-intentioned. The allegations  are meant to mislead the public, create disaffection, and ridicule the all-inclusive, pro-poor and people-oriented administration in Kaduna State,” the Chairmen said in their joint statement.

“The Governor Uba Sani Administration stands for the rule of law and due process. Transparency and accountability are its watchwords. It supports and respects the financial autonomy of Local Governments. It has never tampered with the funds of local governments. On the contrary, it has been taking measures and executing programmes and projects to complement the efforts of local governments,” the Chairmen added.

Interestingly, a number of the Local Government Chairmen who served in same position when El-Rufai was in office as Governor testified to the fact that what their council areas have been receiving as monthly allocations since Senator Sani became Governor have more than doubled the amount they were receiving during El-Rufai’s administration. “Apart from enhanced monthly allocations, we have been operating in an atmosphere devoid of harassment and intimidation, unlike El-Rufai’s era that was marked by highhandedness and coercion,” the LG Chairmen disclosed.

In the same regard, the Kaduna State House of Assembly has dismissed El Rufai’s diatribe against Governor Sani and members of the State House of Assembly as a cheap ploy to divert attention and possibly discredit the on-going prosecution of top officials of El Rufai’s administration who were allegedly indicted for various degrees of financial maleficence. 

“The Kaduna State House of Assembly remains committed to its constitutional responsibilities and will not be swayed by distractions. We reaffirm our unwavering support for  Governor of Kaduna State, Senator Uba Sani, and the Speaker of the Kaduna State House of Assembly, Rt. Hon. Yusuf Dahiru Liman. Regardless of party differences, we stand united in our resolve to work together for the benefit of the good people of Kaduna State and to ensure the effective delivery of democratic dividends,” the Kaduna State House of Assembly said in a statement.

One thing is certain though, El-Rufai who is desperately battling for political relevance, will continue to clutch at straws as he intensifies his bid to undermine both President Tinubu and Governor Sani.

He is however fighting a lost battle.

Kaduna has since transited from the crises-prone El Rufai period to a new era of unity, peace, safety, security and sustained development under the able leadership of Senator Sani.

-Ahmed writes from Kurmin Mashi, Kaduna.