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Tag: el-Rufai

  • El-Rufai calls for peace, safety of all

    Gov. Nasiru El-Rufai of Kaduna State has urged people of the state to join hands with the government to make the state peaceful and safe for all.

    He made the appeal on yesterday and charged the people to uphold each other in common humanity and pray for peace in the land.

    “Let us do our best to promote harmony in our communities and reject strife in our land. Let hope never depart from our hearts.

    “As we push on to improve the quality of life by providing qualitative and affordable education and decent healthcare we  pray  God Almighty for the blessings and lessons of Easter to  spread all through the state, and move  all to be better people,” he said

    He added: “Easter calls for dedication to duty, and putting the interest of the other before personal gains, as Jesus taught us by sacrificing His life for all.

    “This festival of triumph follows the holy season of Lent, during which the Christian community engaged in fasting, prayers and works of charity.

    “As people of faith, let us continue to practice in our daily lives the lessons of sacrifice, care for the poor, deep spiritual reflection and love for all humankind, irrespective of tribe or religion, observed during the fasting.

    The governor said, for more than two thousand years, Easter had symbolised the triumph of hope over despair and an affirmation that darkness cannot trump the plans and wishes of Almighty God.

    According to him, Jesus Christ set an example of sacrifice that has moved men and women through the ages.

  • El Rufai’s free education, feeding policy

    SIR: Malam Nasir El Rufai of Kaduna State introduced some policies in the state whose results so far are at best mixed. In fact, the policies of school feeding and free education introduced by his administration increased the financial burden of the state. The administration banned all schools in the state from collecting PTA money and any form of payment from parents in the state when it is known that most schools use this money for the procurement of chalks and other things required for a successful learning. Meanwhile the state has failed to provide these materials. Today in Kaduna State, students and teachers buy chalks for the use of their schools. Is this not borne of lack of good and proper planning?

    Secondly, the state government introduced free school feeding for primary school students of which N10 billion was reportedly spent in eight months. The aim of this was to motivate the students to go to school. Of course, this has really motivated them but the schools became very congested to the extent that students are staying outside the classrooms and sometimes in the veranda. What measures has the state government taken so far to expand or increase the number of classes in the state?

    We are all aware of the fact that the government renovated schools across the state, but this was not sufficient. My candid opinion here is that these huge monies that are being spent on school feeding where half of the school hours are wasted in distributing food packs that cannot satisfy even a toddler should be used in promoting the social and economic welfare of the teachers. The schools need more than renovation. The structures of these schools should be upgraded and where there is enough land or spaces, additional classes should be built. The N10 billion spent in eight months on school feeding is too much. This money should have been used in other sectors of the state. If one billion naira was spent on agriculture, it would have employed thousands of graduates. If one billion naira had been spent every year for eight months on important and selected ministries it would have transformed the state to a greater level.

     

    • Hasheem B Ahmad,

    hashimbahmad@gmail.com

  • El-Rufai’s fire versus Labour’s fury

    The exchange of star-words in Abuja between Governor Nasir El-Rufai of Kaduna State and Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) made the news last week. The governor reportedly lashed out at the organized labour, claiming unions “destroyed the nation more than they have contributed to it”. “Trade unions”, he said, “have never served the country well. They have been selfish and everything is about their narrow interests. In general, in Nigeria, trade unions have been a danger to our progress and I think they should be curtailed”.

    At 40th anniversary when all Nigerians, including President Buhari openly celebrated the role of Labour in the struggle for independence, against colonialism, for democracy against military dictatorship, El-Rufai was exceptionally uncharitable to the nation’s workforce! But true to its tradition of resistance against abuse, (verbal or policy wise) in a quick reaction, organized labour, pointedly described the governor “as an embarrassment” to public office, an “anti-people and a chameleon”.

    Witness the General Secretary of Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC, Dr. Peter Ozo-Eson: “The country has a better moral standing than the likes of El-Rufai who has demonstrated that he is not fit to hold public office or political position.  He is an embarrassment to public office in Nigeria. He speaks out of both sides of the mouth. This is the same El-Rufai who once gate-crashed into one of NLC’s protests and pleaded to have NLC apron to be part of the protest”.

    My take here is to further point out that crisis of governance is deepening in Nigeria. With “friendly fires” between the governor and numerous real and imagined enemies, is the governor really governing Kaduna State or governing serial (often self- inflicted!) crises of attritions?

    Undoubtedly the relationship between NLC and Kaduna State government had degenerated since his controversial mass sack of about 22,000 teachers who allegedly scored below pass mark in a controversial competency test. NLC and its affiliate unions in January marched in Kaduna in solidarity with the members of Nigeria Union of Teachers (NUT) amidst unprecedented military/police presence. That is expected. The world of work is all about cooperation and contestation. Even at that, it beats imagination that a governor in 21st century, (not 19th century colonial King Kong!) would upscale his ideological opposition to labour almost to a full blown hate speech. It is “dangerous” (governor’s word) and certainly unhelpful to his government, his ruling party, APC (some of us voted for!) to make hostility against Labour a virtual policy. There is a bagful of El-Rufai’s volte face on a number of critical national issues including “Restructuring”.  He hitherto decried it only to emerge as a new restructuring enthusiast without an apology for his previous dismissal of the recommendations of 2014 National Conference which favoured far-reaching reform measures based on national consensus compared to the current partisan dictatorship.

    It might be fashionable for the governor to relish in Labour bashing. But I recall that the governor had had mutually rewarding robust engagements with the labour movement with quotable quotes credited to both celebrating partnerships in governance. As NLC General Secretary pointed out, this writer was at the barricade in Abuja during the 2010 NLC strike and mass protests against fuel price hike during which then dissident citizen El-Rufai  applauded Labour for providing platform for Nigerians to oppose unpopular policy of fuel price hike under Jonathan. I recall the on-going partnership between him, Buhari administration and Labour to revive the closed textile mills. Indeed Governor El-Rufai in 2015 in Kaduna hosted the National Conference of Textile, Garment and Tailoring Workers’ Union (together with Comrade Adams Oshiomhole, then Edo State governor), with  adorned face cap singing workers’ solidarity song!

    Indeed there was once “a Comrade El-Rufai” who rightly saw unions as allies, not “dangerous” bodies. Was it all about opportunism on his part or enduring principle to make positive impact in nation-building? This then raises the issue of capacity for governance. It’s time Nigerians demanded for competence test for all governors.  Many governors of course parade multiple degrees, local and abroad. But most of them lack the “real degree”; leadership and strategic training to make a democracy work for the people. Most governors even lack the knowledge of 1999 Constitution which informed their oath of office. Constitution defines us as citizens to be dignified, not slaves to be verbally abused. Indeed the constitution envisages dignity of labour. No private manager of a private company, no matter the provocation, would ever describe his customers “irresponsible” if he wants to sell in the market!

    I was scandalized that El-Rufai without measured temperament of an elected governor tagged Nigerian doctors “irresponsible” for going on strike! Nigerian constitution and labour laws recognize the right of any working man and woman to withdraw his or her service, including doctors in the face of violation of rights to decent work. In May 2016, in England 37,000 junior doctors went on three strike actions on improved working conditions. Governor El-Rufai must be from another “planet” (his word!) not to know that doctors’ strikes are globally acceptable practices. Samuel Gompers puts it better; “Show me the country that has no strikes and I will show you the country in which there is no liberty.”

    Governor El- Rufai is certainly not Adolf Hitler! What should worry the governor is the mass exodus (sorry, “mass strike”) of thousands of doctors and nurses abroad due to abysmal working conditions and indignities at home. APC’s restructuring exercise is dead if the likes of El-Rufai lack basic appreciation of the importance of labour as a factor of development and nation building. He betrays gross ignorance of simple labour market issues (and indeed national development) by calling for the   removal of labour from the Exclusive Legislative List. He even called for “Very Low” Minimum Wage (a grammatical overkill because “minimum” means “very low!). All 36 governors receive same minimum/maximum pay in spite of their miserable internally generated revenues. No governor earns “very low minimum” pay! What is good for governors is good for a messenger and a cleaner. Nigeria cannot be part of the 20 leading developed economies without a development agenda that mainstreams labour motivation and productivity. World-wide, the laws which govern labour, capital and land as factors of production, have significant impact on growth and development. Even predatory colonial Lord Lugard and military dictators or recent past eventually were compelled to recognize the importance of labour as a factor of production and development. The first federal (note; not regional!) ministry to be established was Federal Ministry of Labour in 1914. Colonial authority as well as post-independent Nigerian governments recognized that labour was a critical success factor for transformation. Behind the celebrated miracle of Nigeria’s double digit growth plus development in the 60s and 80s were progressive labour laws regulating minimum wages and pensions as well as collective bargaining and industrial conflicts.

    Given the current high level of youth unemployment, worsening poverty, unregulated immigration, foreign investment of dubious value and underdevelopment, rampant strikes and industrial conflicts, more than ever before, Nigeria needs a federally-managed (not deregulated) labour process. Since humanity rightly banished slave trade (with prescribed punishment for slave traders!), labour is no more a commodity to be verbally hired and fired as El-Rufai gleefully threatened to summarily sack lecturers of Kaduna State University if they dare go on “ASUU strike”. Labour markets “are socially embedded” for those that care. Labour markets harness human energies. They rely on human motivations, care, understanding, dignity and above all fairness failing which you get no production. Labour creates wealth. I enjoin governor El- Rufai to consciously cultivate Labour as partner in development process through social dialogue not endless “fire” with attendant “fury” .

     

    • Aremu mni, is a member, National Executive Council of NLC.

  • El-Rufai directs security beef-up on Kaduna-Plateau border

    Kaduna State Governor, Malam Nasir Ahmad El-Rufai has directed Security agencies in Kaduna State to beef-up security along the border between Plateau and Kaduna State.

    El-Rufai who gave the directive on Tuesday also tasked the security operatives to work with their counterparts in Plateau State to contain the crisis along the border between the two states.

    In a formal reaction to the cross-border violence between communities in Bassa local government area in Plateau State and Kauru local government area in Kaduna, El-Rufai through his spokesman, Samuel Aruwan regretted that certain elements in the border communities succumbed to the tragic cycle of attack and reprisal.

    He expressed government’s condolence to the families that lost loved ones and property, and disclosed that the state emergency authorities have been mobilized to provide relief.

    According to him, “the Governor of Kaduna State, Malam Nasir Ahmad El-Rufai has received reports of communal clashes in the border area with Plateau State. Lives and property were lost in the clashes, especially in Kigam village of Kauru local government and a community in Bassa local government area of nearby Plateau state.

    “The Governor is saddened by this unfortunate incidence, and he has since condoled families of the victims and has directed that urgent security measures be taken around the border with Plateau State to secure lives and property.

    “The Governor directed security agencies operating in Kaduna State to liaise with their counterparts in Plateau State and ensure that Kaduna state citizens are adequately protected, communities secured and that there be no escalation of the mayhem.

    “The Governor of Kaduna State, furthermore, directs security agencies to work hand in hand with their Plateau State counterparts to ensure that those that killed our citizens are arrested and brought to justice.”

    He added that, the State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA) has equally been directed to mobilise relief materials to Kigam community.

  • El-Rufai, publicity and common sense

    El-Rufai, publicity and common sense

    FEW people can say exactly what drives Kaduna State governor Nasir el-Rufai’s insatiable thirst for the limelight: plain desire for publicity, or his gaudy show of not tolerating fools gladly. Whatever it is, the enfant terrible of Kaduna politics is as irrepressible as they come, and always has something to say on everything, even if he ends up putting his foot in his mouth. Last Thursday was another opportunity for Mallam el-Rufai to serve his extravagant dish in the public, this time in Abuja during a ‘Governance Matters’ roundtable organized by the Development Alternative Incorporation (DAI) where, as usual, he talked nineteen to the dozen.

    Reports of his special offering last week were sketchy, but it was substantial enough to determine whether he talked sense or not, and whether he played to the gallery, as he is wont, or made commonsensical analysis about some of the salient issues that grieve the country. Two of his comments stood out: one was on trade unions, which he trashed; and the undoubtedly ancillary issue of unionised university teachers and doctors, against whom he fulminated robustly. And the second was on minimum wage which he spoke about with incredible and insensitive condescension.

    On trade unions, he was as peevishly incautious as he was smouldering. According to him: “Trade Unions have never served the country well. They have been selfish and everything is about their narrow interests. In general, in Nigeria, trade unions have been a danger to our progress and I think they should be curtailed. The mistake we made as a country was placing trade unions in the Exclusive Legislative List. If the Academic Staff Unions of Universities (ASUU) has an issue with the Federal Government, the state universities will go on strike too. We need to take labour matters out from the exclusive list so that the principle of no work, no pay could be effectively used to stop labour arrogance of unnecessary demands from government which has helped to kill our educational system and health sector. In Kaduna, I warned the Kaduna State University, that if you ever go on strike again because of somebody else, I will fire all of you. I think the health unions have been the most irresponsible because only an irresponsible doctor will abandon his patients even after swearing to the Hippocratic Oath. I think Nigerian doctors are the only ones on the planet that go on strike.”

    Even if you downplay his hyperbole, his remarks would still be found , in large part, to be misplaced, inaccurate and disparaging. Trade unions may not always fight the right causes, nor be unimpeachable in their arguments and style, but it is an exaggeration to dismiss them as waging only selfish causes. Mallam el-Rufai is entitled to argue about where to place trade unions in the constitution, and may even be right in suggesting that indiscriminate industrial unrest has unhinged the educational and health sectors. But no one, not in any government, except perhaps that of Mallam el-Rufai, will suggest that trade unions, whatever their faults, have not fought great causes, both under colonial rule and after independence. The Kaduna governor is apparently not master of his emotions; this is why he often pollutes his more sensible arguments with atrocious self-importance and unseemly cocksureness.

    Perhaps the most offensive remark he made last Thursday was to advocate a reduction in minimum wage while hiding under the sensible caveat that the 36 states, administered under different economic and social regimes, should not be condemned to a unified national minimum. This is a striking remark from the unprincipled Mallam el-Rufai who in the first few months of the federalism controversy sneered that the concept had been hijacked by nefarious politicians. Hear him: “…First, take labour matters out of the Exclusive List because many of us are victims of agreements reached with ASUU by the federal government. The states were never part of such agreements. Second, is the issue of minimum wage; except we set a very low minimum wage, there will continue be issues especially with states that do not have wide tax net. You cannot set the same minimum wage for Lagos and Jigawa.” His lack of profundity should have struck him had he indicated just how much lower than the current implausibly low N18,500 he wants the government to come down to. Or perhaps he was talking in anticipation of the newly proposed minimum wage. The current and even proposed minimum wage are indefensibly low. Workers can neither survive on the new minimum nor hope for a bright future from it. Differentiation can, however, be defended. But to suggest a lower figure as national minimum wage is not only cruel and unfeeling, it is foolish and counterproductive. Mallam el-Rufai does not, however, entertain contrary views with the liberalism and intellectualism he pretends to. No one will be able to persuade him, except of course he sees political capital in fighting a cause. And who can tell, maybe the Kaduna governor is not just about his inflammatory views, but also about hugging the limelight and staying garishly on the front pages of newspapers.

  • El-Rufai, Ganduje, Bello under fire over ‘attack on senators’

    El-Rufai, Ganduje, Bello under fire over ‘attack on senators’

    Three governors – Yahaya Bello (Kogi), Nasir El-Rufai (Kaduna) and Abdullahi Ganduje (Kano) – came under fire in the Senate yesterday.

    They were accused of unleashing unwarranted attacks on senators from their states. The lawmakers said the governors should be called to order.

    The senators took turn to describe what they tagged “despicable and unacceptable politically-motivated attacks on senators in various states.”

    They warned that except the trend was halted; there could be mayhem which would affect the 2019 elections.

    The position of the upper chamber followed the adoption of a motion by Senator Ahmed Ogembe (Kogi Central), who alleged disruption of his empowerment programme.

    Saying that mayhem was visited to his supporters, including the destruction of their houses in Okene, the lawmaker lamented that the Police Area Commander, Okene and the Divisional Police Officer of Okehi and Adavi local government areas were aware of the empowerment programme but refused to rein in the invaders.

    Ogembe said the programme took place on March 3 in Okene.

    He expressed worry that “indeed, political violence, kidnapping, killings, assassinations of my constituents and supporters in Kogi Central have become the order of the day and the police have chosen to turn a blind eye.”

    Hardly had Ogembe concluded his submission when another senator from the state, Dino Melaye, took the floor to speak on his ordeal in the hands of Governor Bello

    Melaye recalled how he was last week arraigned on the order of the Federal Government over alleged misinformation.

    Other senators who contributed to the motion narrated their experiences in the hands of their governors and insisted that Ogembe’s case should be used to cut the “excesses of governors.”

    Deputy Senate President Ike Ekweremadu, who also narrated his experience in the hand of a former Enugu State governor said: “I want to tell our brother Ogembe that some of us passed through the route before, but by the grace of God, we are here and those oppressors are at home because it is God that gives power.

    “Sometimes in life, people think they are God. They play God because people have given them opportunity to superintend over the affairs of men. “So, they think that they became what they are by their special power and assume God. But ultimately, God intervenes to show them that they are not God.

    “So, the problem in Nigeria now is that our democracy is receding, and the international community needs to know this.

    “Who says that the Army cannot take over in Nigeria? It is possible. So, let us not joke with our democracy, especially with the way they going.

    Minority Leader, Senator Godswill Akpabio was uncomfortable with the mention of military intervention.

    Akpabio raised Order 23(4): which says a senator should restrict himself to the subject under discussion.

    He said: “The mention by the Deputy Senate President, saying, ‘who said that the military cannot take over’. We believe strongly that with the will of all Nigerians and the support of God, that we have confined the idea of dictatorship to the background and our democracy will thrive forever.

    “Never again shall we go into military rule. And that is not even contemplated in Africa, not to talk the most populous nation in the black race.”

    But Senate President Bukola Saraki ruled that Akpabio took Ekweremadu out of context.

    He said: “It is not really just about Kogi State but it is clear from what we are seeing that Kogi is coming to a point where it is becoming a threat to our democracy and we are going to be very serious about it; and it cannot be seen to be defying our democracy because this is not what our democracy is about.

    “For the role that we continue to play in the comity if nations, we must be seen to make good examples to other parts of the world. We must get to the bottom of this; we must take action that must stop this thing from happening, and we must condemn this in the strongest term because this kind of action is totally unacceptable. It cannot be allowed to continue because it just starts with one state.

    “Some of us have been privileged to be governors before; we are almost 20 years in democracy. This cannot be the democracy that we should be talking about after 20 years, and it is totally unacceptable. And we must make sure that we use this opportunity to address the issue.

    “We saw the case in Kaduna State, how a governor can proudly say that he is going to bulldoze a house in Nigeria. At this time… and we are all still keeping quiet. These are things that we must condemn totally.”

    The Senate resolved to set up an ad-hoc committee to investigate the disruption of Ogembe’s empowerment programme and the role of the police during the programme.

    It said the committee should submit its report to the Senate in plenary in two weeks.

  • El-Rufai will win 2019 poll without Hunkuyi’s, Sani’s support, says APC secretary

    El-Rufai will win 2019 poll without Hunkuyi’s, Sani’s support, says APC secretary

    Hon.Yahaya Baba Pate is the Acting Secretary of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Kaduna State. In this interview with ABDULGAFAR ALABELEWE, he says Senators Hunkuyi, Shehu Sani and other chieftains behind the factional leadership of the party are disgruntled elements and contends that the governor will be re-elected in next year’s election without their support. 

    What can be the cause of the crisis  rocking the Kaduna State chapter of the APC?

    Like I have always told the media, APC is one in Kaduna State, ably led by Alhaji Shuaibu Idris as the acting chairman, who was elected Deputy Chairman in the last state congress to elect state leaders in 2014. Shuaibu Idris was the deputy to the then Chairman, Architect Bala Bantex. When Bantex assumed the position of deputy governor, automatically; his deputy will become the chairman. That was how Shuaibu Idris became acting chairman and that is the position of the constitution and he is the one recognised by the the national leadership of our party. As I am talking to you right now, he is in Abuja attending the National Executive Committee (NEC) meeting of our party. They sent him an invitation letter about 10 days ago, and he is right there attending the meeting now, that shows that, he is the one recognised by the national leadership.

    So, as far as we are concerned, we don’t have faction in Kaduna. What we have are disgruntled members, who think the whole party and the APC government must tow their line of thought and action. We in the Kaduna APC are committed to seeing that the government of APC, led by Malam Nasir El-Rufai, deliver its promises to the people of Kaduna State and so far so good, our government has been fulfilling those promises in all sectors of governance. In education, for example, as serious reform is ongoing, teachers training rehabilitation and building of more classrooms, equipment of laboratories and so on. The same applies to agricultural sector and infrastructure development. These are what the APC government promised the people of Kaduna State and those are the things we are doing presently.

    If you say there is only one APC in Kaduna, why did a group of party stakeholders, including two serving Senators, break away?

    As I told you, they are group of ambitious people who think, it is only when you tow their line of thought that they will have peace with you. When you check their records, having issues with people is not a new thing in their record. Take for example Senator Suleiman Hunkuyi, he had problem with Makarfi, he had with Namadi Sambo, the late Patrick Yakowa and even Ramalan Yero. So, it is a common character in them. They want the present government to maintain the status quo of bad governance. We promised the people of Kaduna State a change from what was obtained before 2015 and that is what our government ably led by Malam Nasir Ahmad El-Rufai is doing in Kaduna State.

    Considering that these stakeholders have their own supporters, what do you think is the implication of this crisis as we approach 2019 general elections?

    I think, as far as the people of Kaduna State are concerned, we don’t have any problem. Our government is a popular government, because we are meeting the yearnings and aspirations of the people of Kaduna State. Our governor is a very popular governor in Kaduna State and beyond. If you see the kind of reception we receive whenever we visit any local government, because of the various developmental projects the government is taking to every nook and cranny of the state. Recently, we even registered 50,000 to 60,000 new members across the 23 local government areas. So, I don’t think we have problem of supporters. APC is the most popular party in Kaduna State and we are getting popular day by day, due to the kind of work the APC government of Malam Nasir El-Rufai is doing and President Muhammadu Buhari.

    Do you think Governor El-Rufai has handled the crisis well, being the leader of the party in Kaduna State?

    The Governor had no any personal issue with anybody, he discharges his duty according to the constitution of the federal republic of Nigeria, he respects the party, he honours our invitation anytime we invite him. He has been here for meeting five to six times and he respects party decisions. So, I don’t the Governor has any issue with any of them.

    But, do you think reconciliation is possible? Is the party ready to reconcile with these members?

    As a responsible party and a responsible parent, our doors are always open for genuine reconciliation with any member. But mind you the members you are talking about have been given various degrees of sanctions; some are on suspension. Senator Hunkuyi has been suspended for six months, Shehu Sani has been suspended indefinitely and others have been expelled. Maybe when they become remorseful and seek forgiveness from the party, we might have a second look at their case.

    Where then is the place of the Presidential reconciliation committee led by Asiwaju Bola Tinubu?

    Well, as I said earlier, we are law abiding chapter of the party. So, the Kaduna State APC welcomes the presidential committee, we are ready to receive the committee and give Tinubu all the respects he deserves, but Tinubu committee will not stop the party in Kaduna from discharging its constitutional responsibilities. What we are doing is in line with the provision of the constitution, so I don’t think the committee will stop us from doing the right thing. We have to promote the promote and guide the constitution and that is what we are doing.

    Earlier, you said Alhaji Shuaibu Idris was the deputy to the former chairman, Bala Bantex. Where was S I Danladi Wada, the current chairman of the other faction, when Bantex was the chairman?

    Danladi Wada never contested in the 2014 congress that brought on board, Bantex and Shuaibu Idris. In front of me here is the certified true copy of list of aspirants in that congress, as certified by INEC. Here are the names of all those that contested, S I Danladi Wada never contested and as you can see his name is not on the list. So, how did he become Deputy Chairman as the Hunkuyi’s group is claiming. Also in our register, we did not register anyone known as S I Danladi Wada. We are the custodians of the party’s register and there is nobody by name S I Danladi Wada. In fact, how can somebody’s name start with initials? What does S. I stand for? S I Wada is an imposter, we don’t know his, he is not a member of our party.

    If the reconciliation fails, do you think you can win the 2019 elections?

    As far as we are concerned, we are getting supporters day by day. Our governor is one of the most popular governors in Nigeria, based on his track record of achievements. We are receiving supporters day by day from various local government areas of the state. So, with or without Shehu Sani or Suleiman Hunkuyi, we don’t have any problem come 2019.

    We are getting more members and we are getting senior politicians in the state joining the party; within the next few weeks, we will invite you to come and witness as we will be receiving large number of new members into the party, and I means in their hundreds and thousands. So, whether Sani or Hunkuyi leave won’t be a problem to us and we don’t have anything to fear.

  • El-Rufai and the Kajuru debacle

    El-Rufai and the Kajuru debacle

    NIGERIA may be bathing in blood, but last week’s clash between Christian and Muslim youths in Kajuru Local Government, Kaduna State must really take the biscuit. By the last count, some 12 youths had been killed, and hundreds of houses burnt. The reason for the mayhem is believed to be anchored superficially on a dispute over girls, but more substantially over deepening societal and sectarian fissures that disallow, under any guise, the crossing of dividing lines. If the excuse for the clash seems silly, and no one wants to reconcile himself to the dangerous bifurcation of the Kaduna society, recognise at least that both the casus belli and the divisions speak morbidly to the intolerance taking root in the state, an intolerance enthusiastically given fillip by Governor Nasir el-Rufai’s own flagrant intolerance.

    The governor has sued for peace, and warned that perpetrators of the violence that shook Kajuru would be brought to book. How the irony did not strike him is baffling. The governor is himself a practitioner of political and other forms of intolerance, and yet he denounces and wants to prosecute the intolerant youths of Kajuru. Intolerance should be denounced and fought, and democracy desperately needs to be entrenched in these parts. But should the governor not first take the log out of his eyes before attending to the speck in the youths’ eyes, especially seeing that the ailment befuddling the feuding youths are not entirely dissimilar from his, if not even inspired by the temper and impatience of his government?

  • El-Rufai: PDP is destroyed as a brand

    El-Rufai: PDP is destroyed as a brand

    Kaduna State Governor Nasir El-Rufai has said the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has been annihilated as a brand.

    The governor was confident that the Asiwaju Bola Tinubu reconciliation committee would resolve the crises within the All Progressives Congress (APC) and the party would come out stronger.

    He spoke at the Al-Hikmah University, Ilorin, Kwara State, at a lecture: ‘Governing justly: Perspective from far and near with lessons for Nigeria.’

    According to El-Rufai, more misdeeds of PDP’s 15 years of misrule would come to the fore before 2019.

    He said: “APC is a miracle; we are a party that is just five years old but we are a miracle, a 21st century miracle. A party that was formed a year to the election and it ejected a party that had ruled for 16 years, is a miracle.

    “We will solve our problems and we will win the next elections, even in more states because we are capable of solving our problem while the other party is so disorganised and misinformed.”

    “The reasons why Nigerians voted out the PDP in 2015 was because they were tired, everyone could see that the country was heading towards collapse, so people voted against the PDP.

    “There must be a consistent, unwavering focus on security, peaceful co-existence and human development goals that will deliver justice to the people.”

  • Ganduje and El-Rufai

    Ganduje and El-Rufai

    Reservations on the desirability of state police have largely hinged on prospects of its abuse by governors to emasculate opposition. Even with increasing inability of the centrally controlled police to rise to the peculiar security challenges in parts of the country, there are still genuine fears that state governors would abuse that institution for selfish ends.

    But some have countered that the federal police have not even fared better in this respect. They contend it would be counterproductive to wish away the imperative of state police on account of these fears especially as it is the way to go in a federal system of government. They point to the increasing inability of the federal police to protect lives and property in parts of the country as both the necessary and sufficient conditions for state police now.

    There are merits on both sides of the divide. Even then, state police is only an integral part of the structural reforms this country direly needs to be on the right and steady path to progress, peace and even development.

    If events from some of these states are anything to go by, fears of the governors manipulating state police for partisan advantage are real. Heightened intolerance of opposition in Kano, Kaduna and some other states do not give comfort that state police will not be severely abused. It would appear the culture of virile opposition that hallmarks democratic engagement is yet to be internalized by most of our political actors. Our understanding of politics as a quick route to material acquisition for ones benefit and that of his immediate primordial group accentuates do-or-die competition. Within this framework, anything – including the most ignoble is fair as the end would always justify the means. That accounts for the increasing intolerance that is rapidly burgeoning in many of the states.

    In Kano State, there was altercation between former governor of the state Rabiu Kwankwaso and the state police commissioner, Rabiu Yusuf over the former’s proposed visit to his constituents. The police commissioner had advised Kwankwaso to shelve the visit on the ground that it had prospects for ruffling public peace. He had claimed security reports at his disposal indicated there would be breakdown of law and order if the former governor made good his visit.

    But Kwankwaso smelt a rat in the position of the police chief. He saw it as a cover up to abridge his fundamental rights to freedom of movement and expression. Though he later aborted the visit, he saw the action of the police as a carefully scripted plan to deny him access to his supporters and whittle down his political influence. And what is left of a politician who cannot touch base with his constituents?

    However, those conversant with the politics of that state knew the order had some other undertone given the rivalry between the former governor and his successor Abdullahi Ganduje. It is no secret that since both former friends fell apart politically, they had been embroiled in bitter competition for the control of structures of the party-the APC.  Kwankwaso nurses presidential ambition while Ganduje would want a second term. And if Ganduje must succeed in his second term ambition, his structures should be independent of that of Kwankwaso who would perhaps be competing with the incumbent president. So their interests no longer tally.

    Given this scenario, it could be understood why the position of the police on the visit drew stern criticisms. It was seen as a subterfuge to promote the interest of the governor over and above that of his predecessor. The excuse that the visit should be aborted because of possible breakdown of law and order does not add up because all the police needed to do was to provide adequate security for it to hold. And since the police boss is privy to the quarters from which the threat would come; he should have moved to nip it in the bud.

    To rule out the visit entirely is a lazy way to go about such a seemingly sensitive matter. And for how long shall we continue to bar the former governor from visiting his state on such spurious security reports? The reality is that Kwankwaso would have to visit his state as regularly it pleased him. It will amount to consigning him to exile; albeit illegally if he can no longer visit his state. And if the police cannot provide him security when the campaigns are yet to kick off, what safeguards are there that they will live up to their statutory duties at the heat of the campaigns?

    It is evident there is more to the action than ordinarily meets the eyes. This is more so; given that before this incident, a house owned by the same former governor had been sealed by the same police to stop his supporters from conducting a mass wedding there.  And if the federal police can be found in such obviously partisan stance, it is to be imagined what the situation would be when we have state police.

    The Kano incident appears a child’s play when weighed against the destruction in Kaduna of the office of a faction of the APC by the state government. The destruction team which was allegedly led by the governor, Mallam Nasir El-Rufai came at night with bulldozers and levelled the one-storey building together with all that was inside. The building houses the office of a faction of the party opposed to El- Rufai. Days before the demolition, the faction had suspended the governor for six months.

    The owner of the building and key member of the faction, Senator Suleiman Hunkuyi has alleged political vendetta as the motive behind the action of the state government. But the state government which owned up to the demolition claimed the building was pulled down for failure to pay ground rent since 2010 and for constituting public nuisance by attracting thugs. By extrapolation, the Kaduna State government wants us to believe that the penalty for failure to pay ground rent is to have such houses destroyed. This is not correct.

    There is nowhere in the relevant laws the state government was given such draconian and sweeping powers. Neither would the allegation that the building attracted thugs be a sufficient ground for the state government to become law unto itself. Moreover, if the same building previously served as campaign office for El-Rufai as alleged by Hunkuyi, why is it now that he suddenly realized that the owner defaulted in the payment of ground rent? And why was the allegation of the building attracting thugs not an issue then? As if this was not enough embarrassment, the same state government has slammed a bill of N30 million on another building owned by Hunkuyi. They want him to pay the bill within 30 days or face severe repercussions. How much is that house worth to attract such a prohibitive bill? Why Hunkuyi again?

    There is every reason to align with Hunkuyi that the action of the state governor was just to get even with his rivals. This is especially so given that the leadership of that faction had before then, suspended him from the party. For daring to challenge the governor in such a humiliating manner, all manner of excuses had to be invented to destroy the structure where that suspension order was issued and obliterate all about the faction. That would send fears to the opposition and serve as a warning to any person that would give his house to that faction as an office.

    It is the height of political intolerance and a throwback to the savage and backward politics of the past that should have no place now. Democracy thrives on virile opposition and flourishes when contending issues are resolved within its ambit. Its course cannot be furthered either by resort to armed tactics, blackmail, outright intimidation and vengeance that are evident in the action of El-Rufai. It is sad the technology El-Rufai acquired while pulling down houses in Abuja during his ministerial tenure found quick application in ‘resolving’ intra-party squabbles. Ironically, that is not the end of the matter.

    El-Rufai has set a very bad example. It is clear he targeted the means of livelihood of Hunkuyi just to get even with the opposition. If we have to muzzle opposition by hook or crook, then our democracy is doomed. El-Rufai must overcome the temptation of sowing wind so as not to reap whirlwind.