The Nation Newspaper

Tag: el-Rufai

  • El-Rufai and State of the Union

    El-Rufai and State of the Union

    By virtue of his relationship with President Muhammadu Buhari, Kaduna State Governor  Nasir El-Rufai has unfettered access to the seat of power in Aso Rock. So, barring any problems, he can see the president at anytime for discussion on national and other issues. Also, being a governor, there are other avenues for him to meet the president for talks. The El-Rufai we  know may have explored all these avenues at one time or the other. Did he utilise them? Did he explore these avenues beforesending a memo to the president on September 22, 2016.

    In the memo, he raised salient national issues bordering on governance, the running of their party, the All Progressives Congress (APC), and the alleged stifling of ministers by a cabal in the Presidency. What the self-styled ‘’Accidental Public Servant’’ said in his memo is not new. It is what we hear everyday from people complaining that the Buhari administration has not done anything to soothe their pains almost two years after coming into office. Since the president lives among us, he has on two or so occasions,  acknowledged that the people are not happy with his administration and appealed to them for understanding.

    Though not his first memo to the president, this has generated a lot of heat because of the believed that he leaked it.  El-Rufai may not have lived up to the pedestal he expects of the president, but then he cannot be held responsible for the country’s problems because he leads a microcosm of it. But because he is not a saint (who is?) does not mean that he should not speak out when things are going wrong.

    As a member of the same party with the president, they should join hands together to find solutions to the country’s problems. He should not heap all the blames on the president. If Buhari fails, it is APC that fails and that failure will be that of all members of the party. Through his memo, El-Rufai pointed out what he considered the problematic areas for the president to work on. His memo shows that he is pained that nearly two years after their party came to power, Nigerians have yet to feel the impact of the ‘’change’’ it promised them.

    ‘’Mr President, there is an emerging view in the media that you are neither leading the party nor the administration and those neither elected nor accountable appear to be in charge, and therefore the country is adrift. We are facing an unprecedented national economic crisis, but our administration has failed to roll out a coherent response and action plan, or even appeal to our patriotism with a rallying cry to unite and sacrifice in the face of adversity’’, he said. The governor was blunt in his critique of the Buhari administration. If you ask me, I will say that is how it should be if we wish to make a headway as a nation. We need those who are insiders in government to speak the truth to themselves  for the sake of our country.

    Really, it would not have cost El-Rufai anything to keep silent as if all is well. We all know that things are not as they should be because of the mismanagement of the past. But for how long will we continue to dwell in the past? The electorate voted the APC because of their believe that the party will wipe away their tears and return the country to the path of greatness. The Buhari administration has started well, but it needs to do more for it to continue to have the people’s trust. Blaming past administrations, as El-Rufai pointed out in his memo, will not solve the problems. What will do the trick is for the Buhari administration to pull itself up by the bootstrap and tackle the problems frontally.

    Hear El-Rufai : ‘’You have inherited serious political, economic and governance problems that you had no hand in creating, but now have a duty to solve. These inherited problems were aggravated by the continuing slide in crude oil prices and the renewed insurgency in the Niger Delta that reduced oil production by more than 50 percent! In my honest opinion, we have made this situation worse by failing to be proactive in taking some political, economic and governance decisions in a timely manner.

    ‘’In very blunt terms, Mr President, our APC administration has not only failed to manage the expectations of a populace that expected overnight ‘change’ but has failed to deliver even mundane matters of governance outside of our successes in fighting Boko Haram insurgency and corruption. Overall, the feeling even among our supporters today is that the APC government is not doing well’’.

    His summation is not farther from the truth. El-Rufai may have been impolitic in his approach, but should we always reduce matters of governance to politics all because we are in the ruling party? We need jolts like this from those within the system to hasten our growth as a nation. May El-Rufai’s wake up call ginger the president and his party to greater action.

  • El-Rufai suffers ADS

    Let us call it the ultimate dissonance or something like that. But the point is that if you are a member of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), you must feel a bit squirmy in the belly now. In the small, quiet corner of your mind, you are bound to keep wondering what went wrong with your dear party.

    APC swept into power with a glorious hurray in May, 2015. It was a big moment for numerous reasons. For the first time, the ruling party was dismantled; a rag-tag coalition seized the centre with a tenacious candidate who had gunned for the number one spot three consecutive times. More remarkable, he was considered by all to possess the elixir against all ills of the nation.

    Now, one and a half years gone by and there is so much dissonance in the polity that even party chieftains are engaged in so much self-laceration that they don’t need the help of the opposition party any longer. Everything seems to have gone awry that it may well be Awry Progressives Congress.

    Now enters Nasir el-Rufai, Governor of Kaduna State and a live-wire – so to speak – of APC. Touted to have the ear of the president as well as being a notable member of the kitchen cabinet, a few days ago, Nasir took the nation by the scruff when a scathing letter he wrote to the president last September burst into the public sphere.

    He said all the things critics would wish they had said. About seven points stand out in Nasir’s treatise and it would serve our purpose to highlight them.

    First, he speaks of the president’s frosty relationship with the APC leadership and the near-zero support for the party structure. Second, he said ministers lacked access to the president; three, there is a cold relationship between the president and the legislature and judiciary; lack of coherent response to action plans.

    Other issues include a feared hijack of the government by a cabal; skewed appointments; inattention to 2019 presidential election and a persistent economic crisis, to say the least.

    Though it may be embarrassing that a private missive to the president has turned out a matter of public discourse, Hardball can feel el-Rufai’s pain and frustration. It was bad enough that he apparently lost his ‘direct pass’ to the president, but it must have been ‘killing’ not to get any response whatsoever to his letter.

    And things kept getting progressively retrogressive to the point that Nasir had no choice but make the world hear his yelping.

    Hardball sympathises with Nasir and understands his plight perfectly. Nasir suffers a condition Hardball takes liberty to term ADS: Acute Disillusionment Syndrome.

    Hardball should know for it is a well-worn path.

  • Shehu Sani to APC: Punish El-Rufai for memo on Buhari

    Shehu Sani to APC: Punish El-Rufai for memo on Buhari

    Senator Shehu Sani has urged the All Progressives Congress (APC) to penalise Governor Nasir El-Rufai of Kaduna State for allegedly leaking to reporters a memo he wrote to President Muhammadu Buhari.
    Sani, who is the Vice-Chairman, Senate Committee on Foreign Affairs, called for the punitive measures in a statement in Abuja yesterday in reaction to the alleged leakage.
    Media reports had alleged that El-Rufai told Buhari in a memo, that he was losing the vision and the momentum with which APC started the change campaign.
    The governor was alleged to have called on the President to communicate constantly with Nigerians, so they would know the plans of his government.
    The reports also claimed that El-Rufai acknowledged that a cabal was working hard to alienate the President from those, who even worked hard to secure his victory during the 2015 election.
    Sani said it was ironic that while El-Rufai could not stand constructive criticism, he had the audacity to criticise the President.
    “The governor always recommends that our party should punish me for criticising him. Now that he has fired a cruise missile at the President through a deliberately leaked memo, he should also be treated the same way.
    “He accused me of being disloyal and disrespectful to the President and the party for speaking my mind.
    “Now he has done his own cunningly by criticising the President and the party, disguised it as a memo and leaked it out to the press.
    “If our able party chair would give me five strokes of the cane for speaking out, the governor (El Rufai) should be given thrice that for ‘leaking out’.
    “It’s often said that look at the message and not the messenger, but there are times when you can only decipher the message by looking at the messenger,’’ he said.
    According to Sani, while El-Rufai is entitled to his opinion and perception, the contradiction and irony is that he carried out an action he always stood against when criticised.
    He described the governor as disloyal and disrespectful, saying: “the difference is that while mine is blunt, his is dubious.
    “Secondly, for all the issues he raised against the President, his own is worst in his space of governance both in the existence of cabal or politics of exclusion, incompetence or public perception.
    “The difference is that the President is tolerant of criticisms and alternative views.’’
    He said the leakage of the memo to newsmen was an evidence that ‘‘logically he is leaking memo to rouse popular sympathy and create the image of ‘a competent alternative’ to ‘Baba.’
    “The memo suggests he is trying to do what he recently accused me of.
    “He said that I am in the habit of criticising him because I want to become Kaduna State Governor,’’ Sani said.
    He advised President Buhari to be cautious, saying: “he who keeps a scorpion in his pocket must always watch his groin and he who inherits a cobra should know that it’s not a pet.’’

  • Leaked memo: El-Rufai is disloyal, disrespectful – Sen. Sani

    Leaked memo: El-Rufai is disloyal, disrespectful – Sen. Sani

    Sen. Shehu Sani (Kaduna-APC) has urged the party to penalise Gov. Nasir El-Rufai of Kaduna State for allegedly leaking to reporters a memo he wrote to President Muhammadu Buhari.

    Sani, who is the Vice-Chairman, Senate Committee on Foreign Affairs, called for the punitive measures in a statement he released in Abuja on Saturday in reaction to the alleged leakage.

    It will be recalled that media reports had alleged that El-Rufai told Buhari in a memo, that he was losing the vision and the momentum with which APC started the change campaign.

    The governor was alleged to have called on the President to communicate constantly with Nigerians, so they would know the plans of his government.

    The reports also claimed that El-Rufai acknowledged that a cabal was working hard to alienate the President from those, who even worked hard to secure his victory during the 2015 election.

    Sani said it was ironic that while El-Rufai could not stand constructive criticism, he had the audacity to criticise the President.

    “The governor always recommends that our party should punish me for criticising him.

    “Now that he has fired a cruise missile at the President through a deliberately leaked memo, he should also be treated the same way.

    “He accused me of being disloyal and disrespectful to the President and the party for speaking my mind.

    “Now he has done his own cunningly by criticising the President and the party, disguised it as a memo and leaked it out to the press.

    “If our able party chair would give me five strokes of the cane for speaking out, the governor (El Rufai) should be given thrice that for ‘leaking out’.

    “It’s often said that look at the message and not the messenger, but there are times when you can only decipher the message by looking at the messenger,’’ he said.

    According to Sani, while Gov. El-Rufai is entitled to his opinion and perception, the contradiction and irony is that he carried out an action he always stood against when criticised.

    He described the governor as disloyal and disrespectful, saying: “the difference is that while mine is blunt, his is dubious.

    “Secondly, for all the issues he raised against the President, his own is worst in his space of governance both in the existence of cabal or politics of exclusion, incompetence or public perception.

    “The difference is that the President is tolerant of criticisms and alternative views.’’

    He said the leakage of the memo to newsmen was an evidence that ‘‘logically he is leaking memo to rouse popular sympathy and create the image of ‘a competent alternative’ to ‘Baba.’

    “The memo suggests he is trying to do what he recently accused me of.

    “He said that I am in the habit of criticising him because I want to become Kaduna State Governor,’’ Sani said.

    He advised President Buhari to be cautious, saying: “he who keeps a scorpion in his pocket must always watch his groin and he who inherits a cobra should know that it’s not a pet.’’ (NAN)

  • APC, Atiku, El-Rufai salute President Buhari

    APC, Atiku, El-Rufai salute President Buhari

    The All Progressives Congress (APC) “heartily welcomed” President Muhammadu Buhari back to the country yesterday after his medical vacation in the United Kingdom.

    The party, in a statement by its National Publicity Secretary ,Mallam Bolaji Abdullahi, was optimistic that  Buhari “is now well rested and has returned with new vigour and optimism to fix the challenges facing our people and fulfill the promises our party made to Nigerians during the 2015 elections.”

    It thanked the President for “following due process and properly handing over to his deputy, Vice President Yemi Osinbajo and thereby saving the country the needless controversies and crises that we experienced in the past.”

    The party also commended Osinbajo for “competently holding forte on behalf of Mr. President and for his loyalty and commitment to the Change Agenda of our party”, and Nigerians for  ”praying for the health and safe return of the President.”

    The APC noted  that “government is fully committed to the party’s manifesto of Change, couched on true transformation in every area of national life.”

    Atiku welcomes Buhari home, urges unity

    Former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar, expressed joy and relief at the return of President Muhammadu Buhari from the United Kingdom.

    The former Vice President said  Buhari’s safe return is a happy moment not only as fellow party member, but also as a Nigerian that has tremendous goodwill and best wishes for the President.

    According to the Turakin Adamawa, the return of the President at this time would put to an end to the uncertainty and the conspiracy theories that attended his 50 days absence.

    Atiku Abubakar explained that, with the President’s return, Nigerians should unite behind their common interests and speak with one voice instead of nursing bitterness against one another because of political differences.

    The former Vice President prays to God to bless the President with many more years of good health and energy to serve his country successfully.

    El-Rufai takes to Facebook

    An excited Kaduna State Governor  Nasir el-Rufai  said on Facebook: “The President is back. He has landed safely in Kaduna and received by Deputy Governor, Barnabas Yusuf Bala,  and senior KDSG officials. The government and people of Kaduna State are proud to receive our First Citizen back to his home to face the task of rebuilding Nigeria. Alhamdulillah. Jumaat Mubarak to everyone.”

  • Audu Maikori must be prosecuted, El-Rufai vows

    Audu Maikori must be prosecuted, El-Rufai vows

    Kaduna State governor Nasir El-Rufai has vowed to prosecute CEO of Chocolate City, Audu Maikori, for the inciting tweets that led to his arrest on February 18.
    Agents of the Department of State Services (DSS) arrested Maikori after claiming five students of College of Education Gidan Waya, Kaduna were killed in the conflict in southern Kaduna on the social media.
    Speaking at the Social Media Week in Lagos, el-Rufai said it was irresponsible of Maikori to have posted such information without verification.
    According to him: “He is going to be prosecuted. He was arrested. His statement has been taken. His fate will be decided by a judge.
    “It’s not Nasir El-Rufai. It’s nothing personal. I have nothing against him. He has worked with the state government in the past.”
    He said Maikori’s messages could have sparked off crisis which led to the deaths of some Fulani people.
    “Audu Maikori rushed to publish a false story without checking with anyone.
    “But before then, he had been posting fake pictures by posting Boko Haram attacks, Rwanda genocide as southern Kaduna killings which elicited a lot of emotions on social media,” El-Rufai said.
    The governor went on: “But more than that, what he posted may have led to killings and we are trying to link the dates of the posting to attacks that may have happened the next day on Fulanis and if we are able to establish that causation, as lawyers, we know what it means. It is totally irresponsible to do that.
    “And even when pointed out to him that this information is not true that the College of Education does not run a mass communication programme and that the school had been closed down since November, he still posted that he stands by his story.
    “He questioned the authenticity of the press statement. He was totally and completely irresponsible.”

  • El-Rufai/Sani feud tears Kaduna APC apart

    El-Rufai/Sani feud tears Kaduna APC apart

    Governor Nasir El-Rufai of Kaduna State and Senator Shehu Sani (Kaduna Central District) are locked in a supremacy tussle. The fight is over who controls the soul of the party, ahead of the 2019 general elections. Assistant Editor LEKE SALAUDEEN examines the issues that must be addressed for peace to prevail in the troubled All Progressives Congress (APC) chapter.

    The rivalry between Governor Nasir El-Rufai of Kaduna State and Senator Shehu Sani (Kaduna Central) has polarised the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the state. Analysts believe the face-off between the two APC chieftains is a fall out of the crisis engendered by the 2015 governorship primary. Both El-Rufai and Sani had governorship ambitions, but Sani was pressurised to step down for the incumbent governor against his will. Since El-Rufai took over the reins of power, Sani has been critical of his administration, despite the fact that both of them belong to the same party. Pundits say the crisis has to do with ego.

    Analysts say the current crisis is being fuelled by the winners take-it all policy of Governor El-Rufai. For instance, the governor was alleged to have considered only members of his group for political appointments. They say even party offices that became vacant as a result of political appointments were arbitrarily filled by the governor without conducting election as required by the APC Constitution. Other stakeholders sidelined are also crying for justice for peace to reign.

    Sani confirmed the genesis of the crisis. He said: “I never intended to contest for the Senate; I wanted to contest for the governorship and I opened offices in Zaria, Kaduna and Kafanchan, and later there was pressure on me that I should step down. Politicians came to meet me that I should step down and allow El-Rufai to contest, because they said he was the favourite of the president.

    “I pulled back and said I wanted to contest for the Senate, but there was a sitting senator, General Saleh and I had to evict him during the primary election. I told them in black and white that I didn’t have money to give any delegate, and if they feel okay with my principles, then let them vote for me, but if my principles are not right for them, let them go and vote for the same person that was occupying the seat. They voted for me and I removed an incumbent senator. So, I didn’t contest against a vacuum.”

    Sani, a social crusader before entering politics, explained that when he got the Senate ticket, there were two major candidates in the Kaduna governorship race, El-Rufai and Isa Ashiru. According to Sani, the two of them had senatorial aspirants that contested the primary against me. He added: “El-Rufai supported General Saleh, while Ashiru was behind Sani Suleiman.

    “I did not have the backing of any of the governorship candidates, but I thrashed the candidates of both El-Rufai and Ashiru. The El-Rufai that won the governorship ticket in Kaduna won it with 1,000 votes and I won one senatorial zone with 920 votes. If I had contested the governorship primary, there was no way I wouldn’t have emerged; it’s not possible. So, I sacrificed that and I contested the Senate and I won.”

    But, a chieftain of the APC in the state who spoke on condition of anonymity dismissed Sani’s claims of being pressurised to step down for El-Rufai. He said President Muhammadu Buhari did not influence the governorship primary in any way. If El-Rufai is close to Buhari, you can’t fault him for that. Sani too is closer to some political big wigs. What I am saying is that Buhari didn’t win the ticket for him. I think the senator should desist from dragging President Buhari into his personal problem with El-Rufai.

    He added: “If Sani was sure of winning the primary, why did he withdraw and settle for the Senate seat? I think the senator should forget about his bitterness over the 2015 governorship ticket and join hands with the governor in his efforts to develop the state. Sani is carrying his bitterness too far. His open criticism of El-Rufai’s government has been extended to the APC-controlled Federal Government. He plays the role of the opposition leader in the Senate. You can disagree within the party on any issue, but not outside; that is the hallmark of collective responsibility in democracy. Sani’s utterances have portrayed the APC as a party without discipline. He is  not attacking Buhari and El-Rufai, but the APC; the platform on which he was elected to the Senate.”

    But, Sani insisted he didn’t withdraw from the governorship race for fear of defeat. He said: “El-Rufai defected from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP. He came to the APC with their destructive tendencies. His ideas are in conflict with our party’s manifesto. He has also crippled the APC in Kaduna. Those who follow him are not people of honour.

    “He can’t intimidate me, because I was elected by the masses of this state, but he gave money to scale through the party primary. He waited for President Buhari to raise his hand for people of Kaduna State. That can’t happen again. The days of President Buhari’s grace is gone. Kaduna voters will vote with their eyes wide open, according to individual performance.

    “Whoever thinks he can silence me does not know my history. I have fought for democracy for over 30 years. El-Rufai has no capacity to confront me. And his men cannot suspend me from the party. How can a tenant sack his landlord?”

    The crisis reached a crescendo when Sani was suspended from the APC in January 2016 by his Tudun Wada ward constituency. The ward executive said it took the action to suspend the senator, because he had made statements that allegedly violate the rules of engagement of the party, factionalised the party, and allegedly engaged in anti-party activities by criticising openly the policies of Governor El-Rufai. It noted that “hardly a week passes that Sani’s group would not be on air criticising and challenging the enduring legacies of Malam El-Rufai; that his statement on national issues is not in conformity with that of the Federal and Kaduna State governments.”

    The suspension had since expired on Friday, December 2, 2016. But, to the consternation of Sani’s supporters, he was again slammed an indefinite suspension. Curiously, on that day, some youths allegedly sponsored by El-Rufai’s Special Adviser on Political Matters, Malam Uba Sani, attacked Sani’s family house in Tudun Wada. The following day, Sani’s constituency office was again attacked by those suspected to be loyalists of the governor.

    Reacting to the development, Sani said: “What is happening today in Kaduna is shameful and sad. It is unfortunate that Kaduna Central is the most dangerous place to live today in Nigeria, because the governor has abandoned his responsibilities and decided to channel all his energy to fighting Senator Shehu Sani.”

    Defending the government, Uba Sani said: “It has become imperative to set the records straight. Everyone has known that it is Shehu Sani that has spent 18 months attacking the governor personally and opposing every government policy. The state government has ignored his tantrums, while the party has acted to uphold discipline.

    “Shehu Sani should keep the government out of his woes. We are beneficiaries of democracy and we champion an open society. We respect democratic values and will never resort to unconstitutional means of settling differences. He should be careful not to make wild and unsubstantiated claims.” The Special Adviser advised the senator to stop his political tantrum and grow up from being childish, adding Sani was only roaring because of his suspension from the party.

    Observers said the suspension of Sani had been predicted weeks before the hammer finally fell on him. What puzzled them, however, was why the senator ignored the danger signals ahead and decided to continue his criticisms of policies and actions of government.

    According to one analyst, the senator’s posture was due to the fact that some powerful forces within the party are behind him and that any attempt to further stretch the mark of humiliation against him would elicit reactions from that quarter. He said even though the forces backing the senator cannot be identified, it is clear the forces against the senator  are not willing to engage him in a fight all alone and had to apply tact in dealing with the issue, so as to gain the sympathy of the party leaders at the national level.

    He recalled that when Sani began his criticism of the El-Rufai administration almost, immediately after it was inaugurated, the governor and his team were quick to react. But, they later changed tactic and began to ignore whatever was coming from the senator. A source close to government said the action was deliberate, in order not to glorify Sani; it was decided that the governor should rather concentrate on governance as a way of shaming his critics.

    At a point, the APC national secretariat intervened when it quashed the earlier suspension slammed on Sani. A high-powered delegation led by the party’s Northwest Vice Chairman, Alhaji Inuwa Abdulkadir, sued for peace between the feuding parties.

    In spite of this move, some APC stalwarts are not impressed with the role of the national secretariat.  One of them, Alhaji Isa Ibrahim, put the blame squarely on the doorsteps of the party’s National Chairman, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun. He said: “When you cannot manage a party at the national level, how can you resolve crisis at the state level. I don’t know of any other position apart from that of the National Publicity Secretary that became vacant since the APC assumed office that has been filled. The situation is similar here in Kaduna. The party chairman is the Deputy Governor. It is not normal.

    Ibrahim said a lot of people are not happy with the governor, because of his failure to carry everybody along in the governance of the state. He said: “The crisis in Kaduna APC is larger than what you can see; it goes beyond El-Rufai and Sani. The truth is that a lot of people are not happy with the governor. If the state chapter of the party could go ahead with a suspension purportedly quashed by the National Secretariat some months ago, it is a clear sign that the headquarters is not in control.”

    Expressing a similar view, an APC chieftain in Kaduna State, Alhaji Suleiman Saleh, blamed the leadership of the party in the state for its failure to comply with the party’s constitution. According to him, the party’s constitution makes it clear that when a position becomes vacant, there must be an election to fill it.

    Saleh also faulted the dual positions of the state chairman and the deputy governorship being held by the same person. His words: “The State Chairman of the APC is the Deputy Governor. The secretary of the party was appointed a commissioner and is now the chief of staff to the governor. You can see that the flagrant disobedience of the party’s constitution became a challenge right from the onset. If the vacant positions were legitimately filled, we won’t find ourselves in this problem.

    “The way forward for us in Kaduna APC is reconciliation. What is happening now is not a war, but a campaign of violence. It has been difficult to bring the two leaders together for reconciliation, because the leadership of the party is being controlled by the governor. But, the stakeholders have drawn the attention of the party leadership to the inherent danger it portends towards 2019. It is time to put our house in order. Those who can call the governor and the senator to order should do it now.”

    Analysts believe the leadership of the APC at the national level must step in immediately to save the party from a major catastrophe in 2019. They also advised the two principal actors in the crisis — El-Rufai and Sani — to shed the toga of arrogance and impunity by engaging in the rule of the game, as outlined in the APC Constitution, for peace to reign in the party.

  • El-Rufai reshuffles cabinet

    Kaduna State Governor, Nasir El-Rufai, on Tuesday reshuffled his cabinet.

    The comprehensive rejig of senior personnel includes the swapping of commissioners, the nomination of new ones, the appointment of new permanent secretaries and some retirements.

    Announcing the decision during a meeting of the state executive council, the governor thanked all members of his team for the successes the government  has recorded so far.

    In the cabinet shake-up, Amina Dyeris-Sijuwade moved from Ministry of Justice to the Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources, while Dr. Maigari Daniel Manzo has been taken from the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry to the Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Tourism.

    Shehu Balarabe moved from the Ministry of Environment to become Commissioner for Stakeholder Relations.

    Meanwhile, Mohammed Bashir Saidu, having become the Chief of Staff, relinquished the office of Commissioner for Local Government.

    Rabi Abdulsalam, a former Commissioner for Women Affairs and Social Development, has been appointed Special Adviser on Social Development, while Dr. Shehu Usman Adamu, former Commissioner for Commerce, Industry and Tourism returned to academia.

    A statement signed by the Special Assistant to Governor El-Rufai on Media and Publicity, Samuel Aruwan, said the Governor has also nominated four commissioners for confirmation by the state House of Assembly.

    The newly appointed commissioners, according to the statement are:

    “Umma Hikima, Clerk of the House of Assembly, as Commissioner for Justice/Attorney-General, Prof. Kabiru Mato, currently Special Adviser on Intergovernmental Relations, as Commissioner for Agriculture and Forestry, Hafsat Baba as Commissioner for Women Affairs and Social Development and Jafaru Sani, Permanent Secretary Cabinet Affairs, as Commissioner for Local Government

    “Three special advisers have been reassigned. Uba Sani is re-designated as Special Adviser, Political Matters and Intergovernmental Relations. Chris Umar, Deputy Chief of Staff, is to become Solicitor-General, while Murtala Dabo, Special Adviser, Economic Matters, is appointed Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Works, Housing and Transport.”

     

  • Hike in diesel price takes a hit at El-Rufai buses

    Love him or loathe him, Malam Nasir el-Rufai brought some relief to FCT residents before he left office as minister of the territory. El-Rufai, now governor of Kaduna State, introduced what is fondly called the El-Rufai buses. They are cheap, neat and air-conditioned.

    People who could not cope with costly petrol preferred them to their personal vehicles. But there is a problem: the buses are fast disappearing. Why? Diesel used in running them is also becoming too costly.

    The buses were commissioned in 2005 to provide subsidised services to residents of the FCT. Managed by a Transport company called Abuja Urban Mass Transport Company (AUMTCO) and the buses are co-owned by some private investors.

    Interestingly, the high capacity buses owned by government are clearly marked while those of the private investors are not so marked, except a few of them belonging to Trade Unions and a few other agencies.

    These buses are usually stationed in different parts of the FCT to ferry passengers to their destination from such places like Gwagwalada, Zuba, Kubwa, Berger, Nyanya, Madalla among others.

    People who live as far as Suleja, Niger State or Nyanya in Nasarawa State but work in the FCT prefer commuting with these buses because of the belief that buses are cheaper and more comfortable.

    Some residents who use these buses told Abuja Review that they choose them because they are highly subsidised and cost them between N50 and N100 to get to their destination depending on the distance while the cabs would take them for at least N200 or N250.

    Asiwaju Williams, a resident of Madalla who patronized the buses told Abuja Review that he prefers using the buses every morning.

    He said, “I come all the way from Madalla in Niger State to Wuse every morning using the ‘El-Rufai’ bus. I prefer these buses because they are usually air-conditioned.

    “There are strict regulations about hawking goods and services, preaching and overcrowding compared to the private owned buses. Their drivers are well-dressed and they operate in a co-ordinated manner.”

    On the other hand, Awodele Oladele, a National Youth Service Corps member resident in Abaji on the border between the FCT and Kogi State, said the buses are usually a big relief considering the high cost of living in the FCT.

    However, the buses have begun to gradually disappear from the road and residents are not finding it funny. Sometimes, the buses are parked at the bus stop without the drivers, while the people wait endlessly.

    A car dealer who identified himself as Okon Chukwuemeka is at a loss as to why several of the buses are parked, leaving the people stranded. Investigation however revealed that this may not be unconnected with the increase in the cost of running them.

    The Head of Marketing and Communications of AUMTCO, Mr. Tunde Akintola attributed this to the increase in the price of diesel and the unchanged bus fare despite the hike.

    “The rise in price of diesel has been an issue of serious concern to the organisation. When we were buying diesel for N 125, we were charging N50 and N100 for the bus fare and now that it is N270 we are still charging at the same price and practically, we are running at a loss,” he said.

    Akintola added that the only option the company had to keep their services running is to cut down on the buses used to convey passengers. He however suggested that the bus fare should be increased in a manner that would be fair to the people and the company.

    Some residents who spoke with the reporter believe that the FCT administration can address the situation by introducing some low profile vehicles to ply some of the routes that the buses cannot ply.

    Damilola Comfort advised that they could delegate low capacity buses within the federal capital such that they could take over the routes ‘Keke-Napep and Okada’ are found and also maintain the buses used for far distance commutation of residents.

    In so doing, it would generate more profit for the organization and provide better safety for Abuja inhabitants by reducing road deaths when ‘Keke-Napep and Okada’ are off the road.

    Also, Ibrahim Wahab said, “The Transport Company should look for a way to have negotiation or make arrangements with oil companies to reduce the price of diesel even as the company re- employs the parked buses found at their location.”

     

  • How to restore peace in Southern Kaduna, by El-Rufai

    How to restore peace in Southern Kaduna, by El-Rufai

    Kaduna State Governor Nasir El-Rufai spoke with reporters in Lagos on his style of governance, the rift between him and Senator Shehu Sani, the violence in Southern Kaduna and how to end the crisis. EMMANUEL OLADESU was there.

    Could you shed light on the protracted Southern Kaduna crisis?
    The crisis would start with a dispute between two people; as long as those two people are from different ethnic groups, different religious persuasions, they don’t get resolved by community leaders or law enforcement agencies. They get escalated into a group conflict between one ethnic group against another or one religious group against another.
    The conflicts, according to the Agwai Committee, arise from the semi-settled Fulani people. In at least two cases out of the 11 we have had, it was a clash between indigenous ethnic groups that are mostly Christians. So, I want people to understand this; this has been a pattern; 11 times it has happened and not necessarily religious, and it is mostly ethnic. It was only once in 1992 after the Zangon Kataf crisis that the Federal Government under Babangida established a judicial tribunal, which tried Zamani Lekwot and others for killings, and they were sentenced to death. Babangida politically commuted their sentences to life imprisonment, and thereafter, they were released. It was the Federal Government that did it, not the state government. The state government has never prosecuted anyone. And this is the pattern, and then, we wait for another conflict.
    Why is the area addicted to crisis?
    In 37 years, we have had 11, and if you do the maths, you will see that it happens almost every three years. So, when we came into office, I asked for all the reports of the commissions of inquiry and I read all of them; the only one that I have not been able to find is that of the first one, the Kasuwa Magani crisis. I read all of the White Papers because I knew sooner or later that in our four years, we might have one. So, we were ready for this. But we took steps to ensure that it did not at all happen. The first thing we did was to try to understand ‘why were communities in Southern Kaduna attacked?’ We set up a committee under Gen. Martins Agwai to study the problem and tell us what is the problem. The committee was inaugurated, submitted a report in August 2015. They had some findings and recommendations that were very, interesting. They found that there were three kinds of Fulani – the settled Fulani that don’t have cattle; the semi-settled who have cattle, but don’t go very far, maybe within the confines of the state and then, the transhumane Fulani, who come from West African countries.
    There is an ECOWAS protocol that allows them to move across these countries and it appears there are international stalk routes that had been marked in pre-colonial times to enable them to move their cattle up and down. What has happened is that, over the years, expansion of population, urban development, need for farmlands have encroached on these international stalk routes.
    So, as these Fulani, mostly from outside Nigeria, come. they get on farms that in their minds were part of the international stalk routes but have now been overtaken by need for agricultural land. This is where the conflicts come.
    What were the findings of the committees set up to probe the crises?
    The conflicts, according to the Agwai Committee, arise from the semi-settled Fulani who move cattle within Nigeria and the transhumance Fulani who come from outside Nigeria. The second finding and recommendation of the committee was that under Governor Patrick Yakowa, this dichotomy was understood by him and that when the attacks on Southern Kaduna communities persisted, he figured that it had to do with the 2011 post-election violence and he began to send delegations to reach out to the transhumane Fulani and offer them compensation to stop coming to kill.
    To some extent, Yakowa was successful until he died; because at some point, the attacks stopped. But, when he died, the successor government did not continue, and the attacks resumed. The Agwai Committee recommended that we should try to reach out to these transhumance Fulani because they are the main cause of the attacks. The committee established that it is not the Nigerian Fulani that are doing most of the attacks and that the bulk of it was coming from abroad.
    We said to them, ‘look, we offer you compensation for deaths, for livestock lost, provided you agree that these reprisals stop. Leave our people alone; this has happened, it happened in 2011.’ We were very successful because from August 2015 when we started the outreach, following Agwai Committee report, till May 2016, there were no attacks in Southern Kaduna. There was silence. We thought that we had dealt with more than one-half of the problem – the transhumane Fulani. Once we started sending delegations, even those who were planning to attack heard that the government was going round apologising, offering compensation. so, they waited because the Fulani have their informal ways of communication and we thought that we had solved that problem.
    What is your relationship with the three senators from your state?
    One of the things that I initiated was a monthly meeting with members of the National Assembly from Kaduna State across party lines. Because I believe that their job is to advocate for Kaduna State’s interest at the federal level and that we should all work together.
    I hosted them to a dinner immediately after the inauguration, but the senator from Southern Kaduna did not come, the two APC senators came, and most of the members of the House of Representatives came. I told them that we needed to work together to influence budgetary provisions for Kaduna, to influence projects and so on. I was doing that monthly, until the Governors’ Forum started fixing monthly meetings the same time I was having dinner with the members of the National Assembly. That disrupted it, and I have not met with them now for about four months, but we have now agreed to a monthly late lunch meeting. The senator from Southern Kaduna maybe considered himself a PDP senator and, maybe, thought we would not be fair to him; so he has never attended these meetings.
    I think that, once elections are over, you are governor of everyone and you should try to bring everyone along. That does not mean that I don’t have separate meetings with APC House of Representatives members or House of Assembly members; we do when we have to meet over party issues, and I meet monthly with House of Assembly members across party lines. They come, and I host them to dinner. They ask what we are doing, and we explain.
    We are on one page, and I think this is why our House of Assembly, I think, is the most prolific in Nigeria. It has passed something like 25 laws in two years.
    What is your relationship with Senator Shehu Sani?
    Shehu Sani’s history is that he is an activist, of some type and it is up to you to determine the adjective. He contested the APC primary and defeated the candidate that I supported (General Sani Saleh), and after the primaries, I brought everyone together and said we have to win this election. I got Saleh to support him, and we supported him fully. I think the problem is that because Shehu Sani’s mind is that of an activist, he thinks that the way to position himself…he thinks politics is being in the media all the time. Activism is different from politics. Sometimes in politics, you don’t want your name in the media, but activists’ oxygen is the media, and he thinks that the way to remain visible and prepare him for running for governor of Kaduna State in 2019 is to criticise everything I do.
    Even, if I breathe air, he will criticise it. I told my media team not to respond to him; we are a government of everybody, including Shehu Sani. Let the party apparatchik respond to him, let people in the streets respond to him, and I also told them to let’s work, let’s produce results because we will get to the point that nobody can come and criticise us. Because of the things he has been doing, criticising the president, saying all sorts of things about me, the party disciplinary process was initiated against him, but he blames it on me. He thinks I engineered it. But, frankly, I don’t care about Shehu Sani. I don’t think he is a threat to me politically or in any way. In 2018, when the whistle is blown we will see who has support on the ground in Kaduna.
    It is claimed that you empowered General Saleh’s supporters…
    I can choose who to empower. I am the governor of the state, and I have to make appointments, and in making the appointments, I have to balance merit, loyalty and paying off other debts. I don’t owe Shehu Sani anything. I asked all of them, Shehu Sani, to give me names of people that I will appoint to positions. They gave me, and I looked at them, and none of the people from Shehu’s list is good enough to be a commissioner in my cabinet.
    Shehu Sani’s first anger was that the list of commissioners came out and none from his list. In a state where there are about 10,000 PhDs that I have in my data base; I am not going to take a diploma holder and make him a commissioner just because he is Shehu Sani’s man. I don’t operate like that. When President Obasanjo called me and said he was going to make me a minister, I gave him a condition that ‘you don’t appoint members of my team, I will appoint my team,’ and that is the person that appointed me. If you have a difficult job, you have to appoint your own team. One of the commissioners we appointed has a Ph.D in Physics; he was a director in the Federal Civil Service. I never saw him until the day that I swore him in.
    We just looked at his CV. Somebody brought it, and we appointed him based on his CV because there is a job to be done. Do I do this all the time? No! When we were appointing local government chairmen, I didn’t get involved. I said let us go and look at those who worked for us at the grassroots and appoint them local government chairmen and councillors. There are 225 councillors in Kaduna State, 23 local government chairmen; I did not appoint one! I left it to the party and our leaders, I said go and do it. I looked, and there was no woman, I said it is not possible, 23 chairmen and no woman?
    So, I looked I saw one woman councillor in one local government, and I made her chairman! That was the only thing I did. I got two women to be local government chairmen! That was what I did. I did not appoint one person because they are not working directly with me. But the people that work directly with me, I must have confidence that they can deliver. Many politicians don’t like this because the PDP system of distribution has become so engrained that people feel entitled that once they help you win an election, you must give them commissioners or so.
    Even Obasanjo that made me minister of FCT did not send me one person to work with me! On his membership of the Abuja Cabal It is not correct. Am I very close to Buhari? Yes. I worked very closely with him in the CPC (Congress for Progressive Change) when everyone had given up on him. I know him, I know how he thinks and he trusts me. Primary assignment He knows that I am driven by public interest. Do I participate in federal decision making? I don’t. I am too busy addressing Kaduna problems to be part of it. When I am called for an opinion or when I happen to be around, and I have an input or if I see something going seriously wrong; I drive and go and see Mr. President I have heard A, B, C, D. I don’t think it is right, you should consider doing C, D, E. I do that and I drive back to Kaduna. My primary assignment is Kaduna. I am not involved in the Federal Government. People like to say and attribute so much to me, and sometimes it is good for me, it gives me a larger than life image!
    Is there a cabal?
    There is always a cabal. Even in your own newspaper, there is a cabal. Nobody can run an institution without a coterie of two, three, four trusted people. There is always a cabal; the issue is whether it is a positive or a disruptive cabal. Am I a member of the cabal? No, I am governor of Kaduna State, I work for Kaduna State 24/7. Why have you not transmitted some good things you did in Kaduna like the attachment of portfolios to commissioners-designate to the president?
    Every leader has his leadership style, and every governor has his own culture. The culture in the Federal Government is to send names without portfolios. But that was the culture in Kaduna before you came? But I have decided to change it. I am not the president. If I am the president, I probably may do things differently, but if I am the president, also, I may get information and briefings by officials and security agents that may help me do things differently. You don’t know how much briefing or information he has. Every leader has his own style, information that guides how he decides. So, I can’t say that what I have done in Kaduna is necessarily relevant to the Federal Government. The marking of Inuwa Abdulkadir’s house? I don’t know that. I didn’t even know Inuwa Abdulkadir had land or house in Kaduna. I know that he has a wife that lives in Kaduna, I would assume that like most northern elite that he has a house in Kaduna, but I really didn’t know. I don’t know about this. These things are done as a matter of procedures and duties, and if he has his title and approved building plans, nobody would touch his house.
    Of course, there is a problem between us because he is trying to mess up our party in Kaduna State in pursuit of an agenda and I have told him that if he doesn’t stop doing that, that I will deal with him and I got three witnesses to that. I am not a guerrilla warrior, if I am going to fight you, I will give you notice so that you will prepare. If Inuwa Abdulkadir has a house in Kaduna and he built without title or permission, I will not ask KASUPDA not to demolish just because he will blame me for it; I don’t care about that.
    On the other hand, if he has his title and approved building plans, you better ask him to produce them to KASUPDA because this KASUPDA is three or so levels below me and I don’t get to know what they are doing.