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Tag: Nasir el-Rufai

  • El-Rufai’s hypocrisy, betrayal: A shameless attack on Tinubu, APC

    El-Rufai’s hypocrisy, betrayal: A shameless attack on Tinubu, APC

    By Adewale Oloruntoba

    Former Kaduna State Governor, Nasir El-Rufai, has once again demonstrated his trademark opportunism, launching an unwarranted attack on the administration of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and the All Progressives Congress (APC)—the very party that elevated him to enviable national prominence, after he was humiliated by the then ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). In his characteristic manner, El-Rufai has chosen to bite the hand that fed him, turning against the party that gave him an unprecedented eight-year platform to govern Kaduna and play a pivotal role in national mainstream politics.

    This latest outburst is not only hypocritical but also reeks of desperation, self-preservation, and entitlement. If anyone embodies the culture of political backstabbing in Nigeria, it is El-Rufai, who has a well-documented history of betraying those who have helped him climb the political ladder. His recent criticism of the APC and its leadership, after benefiting immensely from the party’s goodwill, exposes his lack of principles and insatiable hunger for power.

    It is laughable that El-Rufai now claims the APC is failing, that its leadership recruitment process is flawed, and that the party no longer represents the ideals it was created to uphold. If the party is indeed in disarray, then El-Rufai himself must take a significant portion of the blame, as he was a key architect of the party’s policies and governance structure.

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    Has he suddenly forgotten that it was the APC that made him a two-term governor of Kaduna State? Has he also forgotten that it was President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration, which was an APC-led government, that made him a central figure in national policymaking?

    El-Rufai would do well to remember that before the APC, he had been politically irrelevant after serving as Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) under President Olusegun Obasanjo. He spent years wandering in the political wilderness and seeking relevance. It was APC’s emergence in 2013 that rescued his political career, offering him a fresh start. Yet today, rather than show gratitude, he is busy trying to discredit the very structure that sustained him. The political goodwill of the APC robbed off his family, as one of the children rode to the Federal House of Representatives, chairing a juicy housing committee on Banking regulations.

    El-Rufai’s political career is a testament to the generosity of the APC and its leaders. Without APC, El-Rufai would never have won the governorship election in Kaduna. The party’s strong structure and Buhari’s influence delivered victory to him. He should be thanking APC for his eight-year reign rather than attempting to discredit it.

    As a governor, he was given immense influence over national policy matters. He served as the chairman of several high-profile APC committees, including those on restructuring and governance. He was one of the most vocal defenders of the APC-led federal government during Buhari’s tenure.

    Likewise, being an APC governor afforded him access to federal resources, security, and the political shield he needed to operate freely. He was shielded from opposition attacks from other quarters

    El-Rufai’s betrayal of APC is hardly surprising. He has a long history of turning against his benefactors when it suits his personal self-serving agenda.

    The betrayal of former President Olusegun Obasanjo readily comes to mind. After serving as FCT Minister, he turned against Obasanjo, publicly criticizing the same government that had made him relevant in the first place.

    Enter former Vice President Atiku Abubakar. Once an ally of Atiku, he later became one of his fiercest critics, abandoning their political relationship when it was no longer convenient.  Strangely, he is reportedly romancing the same Atiku for political gain after he has lost relevance in national politics.

    What of immediate past  President Muhammadu Buhari? After benefiting immensely from Buhari’s goodwill and support, he distanced himself when it became politically expedient.

    Now, he has displayed the same  betrayal of APC and President Bola Ahmed Tinubu. Despite benefiting from the APC platform for years, he is now painting a picture of a failed party and an incompetent leadership.

    The pattern is clear. El-Rufai has a habit of using people and platforms to advance his political ambitions before discarding them when they no longer serve his interests.

    El-Rufai’s claim that APC’s leadership recruitment process is dominated by “illiterates and cunning people” is not only insulting but also hypocritical. If the party’s leadership selection process is flawed, then he must take responsibility, as he was one of the key figures shaping that process.

    He conveniently ignores the fact that he himself was a product of that very system he now condemns. Did he complain when APC’s system favored him in Kaduna? Was the party’s delegate system flawed when he emerged as the governorship candidate in 2015? His sudden realization of APC’s so-called failures now that he is out of government is nothing more than a desperate attempt to remain politically relevant.

    El-Rufai’s attack on President Tinubu and the APC is nothing short of a desperate act by a man who sees his influence diminishing. His criticism is not born out of genuine concern for democracy or good governance, but rather out of frustration that he is no longer at the center of political power.

    If he truly believes APC has lost its way, he should take responsibility for his own role in shaping the party over the past decade. He should acknowledge that he is a product of the very system he now condemns.

    Rather than launching baseless attacks, El-Rufai should reflect on his own failures as a leader. His eight years as Kaduna governor were marked by insecurity, division, and controversy. He failed to unite Kaduna, and his governance style alienated many.

    If El-Rufai has any integrity left, he should focus on contributing positively to national development instead of trying to sabotage the party that gave him everything. Nigeria has moved beyond his brand of politics—one based on self-interest, betrayal, and deception. The APC and President Bola Ahmed Tinubu will move forward with or without him.

    •Oloruntoba writes from Abuja

  • The suicides

    The suicides

    In a fine moment, Nasir El-Rufai was Atiku’s boy. Until he became Obasanjo’s boy and started to throw potshots at Atiku.

     The moment was no longer fine enough. Moments later, when he became anti-Obasanjo, he ran to Atiku’s bosom until he nearly bit off the man’s nipples. He was thrust out again, neither for Atiku nor Obasanjo.

    You can call it a pirouette or an about-face, but the former governor of Kaduna State will tell you that both are his name, if he is sincere.

    But he is only conditionally sincere.

    Truth to him is not about beauty but utility. Sorry, Poet John Keats, who proclaimed that “truth is beauty/beauty truth.” If truth is not useful, El-Rufai can do with another option. He abides by his Machiavellian impulse. It comes naturally to him to switch from master to master, from idea to idea, from play to fray.

    When he sat with Atiku on a panel last week, about-face sat side by side with pirouette. It is called political harlotry, and what better duo to play it in the public arena. He seemed to rhyme with the Adamawa chieftain again. In the pathology of politics, your past sins are forgiven so long as, today, we bear the same insignia.

    So, they are both bedfellows. And the reason they are swooning as one is the president of the federal republic of Nigeria: Bola Tinubu. He gives them nightmares when awake in daytime. They gathered together because some so-called democratic non-profits put them together, and called it “strengthening democracy.” How do you strengthen democracy by corralling only one voice. Maybe it was terminological handicap. They were grasping for the appropriate language. Or else, they would have said: “strengthening the opposition.” All they amassed in the building was a cacophony of contrarian voices, including Kayode Fayemi and Rotimi Amaechi.

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    Nothing they said in that meeting was about strengthening democracy. Is it what Atiku said? He griped about democracy and judiciary. He lamented the power of the courts in determining elections. Pray, was it not the same Atiku who gallivanted all over the world shopping for judgment about certificates of the president? Was it not the same man who wanted the courts to help him win the election? Is it because he suffered the “O lule” syndrome that he has now changed his pose about the courts? He forgets that he had certificates that conflicted with certificates in his school, if he did attend them.

    Then without evidence, he said the government was giving his men N50 million. He needs to show proof. So, if the people said they collected N50 million, did he ask them to return the money? Can he name names please? If they collected, and they are still with him, does it not show that he has no reason to condemn corruption? He should have spat those who told him the story to either return it or stay out his squeaky-clean politics. He said no such thing. Rather he accused the administration of arresting Prof. Yusuf Ahmed, and described as muzzling critics and opposition. The prof was arrested for contract corruption, and awarding them to his family members. Obnoxiously, Atiku sees nothing wrong with that. Was he not the same fellow, I mean Atiku, who made the term SPV – special purpose vehicle – a household word? A vehicle for corruption. The term was innocent until the Adamawa chieftain spewed it into the public space. This man has been looking for the position of president since 1992, when he was a Customs officer of some degree of integrity, and now he is a near octogenarian. He wants to occupy the position in his 80’s so he can impose a Trump-like senility of anxiety on all of us.

    He said he has lived his life, and all he wants is power. That is deception. It happens to some men who have acquired wealth. They focus on one desire: conquer their fellow humans. Hence Epicurus wrote: “If thou wilt make a man happy, add not unto his riches, but take away from his desires.” The man, however, still craves wealth at close to 80, and the people are not giving him the desire.

    But the lighthearted moment was when Rotimi Amaechi stood up. I wish he just sat and watched. How could he say he has been in politics because of poverty. Is he poor now? He has been in power for 24 of the 26 years, and he was always in sync. Just two years out of power, he is angry? Maybe he was under the spell of Jesus when he said the thief comes to steal, kill and destroy. Amaechi’s version? Steal, maim and kill. It was a memorable assertion against all the speakers since he did not excuse all his fellow travelers. So, how are they the alternative? Shall we now elevate those vices as models of governance?

    Nasir El Rufai is the comic figure, although he may not be the sort of comedian for the hour. He said he did not want to be minister. Haba. As Reno Omokri wrote, why did he spend all that time in the Senate. Just for show? He dressed well, prepared notes and ideas about power, and he was not interested? Hence, I wrote earlier that he has a Machiavellian attitude to facts. Even before he appeared before the Senate, he had embarked on a pilgrimage to Europe with his friend Jimi Lawal, and explored deals with firms on electricity. He should not lie to the public. Such lies do no respect to the Nigerian people.

    The president wanted him to be minister. But he was not popular with the top brass of the party, including those who had worked with him. So, the president had to reconsider. I read a few posts from Joe Igbokwe about the man’s value. I don’t know where Joe got that idea. He should go to Kaduna, where some of his associates are behind bars, and they are finding it difficult to defend the findings of the  House of Assembly on how he spent the state funds, including about power projects that went kaput. That Kaduna is standing and its Governor Uba Sani is earning accolades is a boon after El-Rufai’s era of error.

    He also confessed on the panel that he could also oppose the government if he served. So, there. Someone once told me that he asserted that he loves to attack big men, so as to get attention and bring them down. It is the practice of some persons – not all of them – of a certain relationship with the earth.

    All of them on that panel  indicted themselves. It shows they are not looking at the clock, and what it is saying about today. They forget that, in the market, dollar is gradually peeping down from its peak. Inflation is high but prices of tomato, beans, dry fish, etc, are losing altitude. They forget that over 600,000 students are now benefitting from the student loans. They cannot see what happened in December. How many Nigerians came home and how much did they enjoy their country? El-Rufai, who failed to bring peace to Southern Kaduna must be marveling over how much calm has come as balm to the streets and heaths. He must wonder at the return of Birnin Gwari. The panelists did not see that the roof of their party, PDP, is on fire. Two hench men going to blows in public in Asaba. Did they not see that? Those who say they are still in the APC only exhibited a loose tongue.

    What it shows is that they are suicides, looking at the backend of their political profiles. It is like the novel, Suicides, by Argentine writer Antonio Di Benedetto. The protagonist is a reporter who is reporting three suicides. He describes their profile this way: “There is terror in their eyes. But their mouths are grimacing in sombre pleasure.” Tells the story of our men on the panel.

  • Alleged money laundering: El-Rufai’s ex-commissioner remanded in Correctional facility

    Alleged money laundering: El-Rufai’s ex-commissioner remanded in Correctional facility

    •Court demands ex-governor’s allies’ passport, two sureties. • Jimi Lawal gets N50m bail

    A former Chief of Staff to ex-Kaduna State Governor Nasir El-Rufai, Alhaji Bashir Sa’idu, has been remanded in a Correctional facility.

    A Kaduna State High Court yesterday ordered him to be remanded pending the perfection of his bail application.

    Sa’idu, also a one-time Commissioner for Finance, was arraigned before the Kaduna State High Court II on a 10-count charge bordering on money laundering, embezzlement and stealing.

    The Independent Corrupt Practices and other related offences Commission (ICPC) had filed a similar charge against him at another State High Court.

    When the case came up for mention yesterday before Justice Isa Aliyu, the defendant pleaded not guilty to the 10-count charge read to him.

    ICPC alleged, among others, that the former commissioner sold $45 million belonging to the Kaduna State government, an equivalent to N18,450,000,000, at an undervalued rate of N410 per dollar, instead of the parallel market rate of N498 per dollar, resulting in a N3,960,000,000 loss to the government.

    The prosecution said the offence took place in 2022 when Sa’idu was Commissioner for Finance in El-Rufai’s administration.

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    The prosecution also alleged that Sa’idu laundered the N3,960,000,000 discrepancy in violation of Section 18 of the Money Laundering (Prevention and Prohibition) Act, 2022.

    Counsel to the defendant, M. I. Abubakar, notified the court of a pending bail application, urging it to grant Sa’idu bail, having spent 21 days in custody since his arrest on January 2.

    The lawyer said the bail application was filed on January 16, arguing that granting Sa’idu bail would give him sufficient time to file his defence.

    But the prosecution counsel, Prof. Nasiru Aliyu, objected to the bail application, saying the law provides that the prosecution be allowed seven days to file its response to the bail application.

    Justice Aliyu ruled that the prosecution be given time provided by the law to file its defence to the bail application.

    He adjourned the case till tomorrow for hearing of the bail application.

    Also, a Federal High Court sitting in Kaduna yesterday granted bail to a former Senior Advisor to El-Rufai, Mr. Jimi Lawal, and three others charged with alleged fraud and other financial infractions.

    The ICPC arraigned Lawal and the three others at the Federal High Court for alleged N64 million fraud.

    The anti-graft agency said the defendants – Lawal Adebisi (a former Senior Special Adviser to El-Rufai), Umar Waziri (a former Accountant General of Kaduna State), and Yusuf Inuwa (a former aide of the former governor), as well as Solar Life Nigeria Limited, the company whose bank account was believed to have received the diverted funds – were charged for allegedly laundering N64 million.

    “The money was sent in three tranches of N10 million, N47.840 million, and N7.320 million, to the bank account of Solar Life Nigeria Limited where Mr. Lawal is believed to be the sole signatory,” ICPC alleged.

    Addressing reporters after the court sitting yesterday, counsel to one of the defendants, Johnson Usman (SAN), said: “Today, the case came up for arraignment. The four defendants have been arraigned and we moved a motion for their bail and the court granted the bail.

    “The court, however, ordered that pending the perfection of their bail condition, they should be remanded in prison custody. We hope the perfection would be done in a jiffy, possibly tomorrow

    “The defendants were asked to provide two sureties with N50 million in like sum. The sureties must have landed properly in Kaduna and the C of O must be verified by the Registrar of the court.

    “The court also demanded that the defendants must deposit their international passports, national passports, green passports, official passports, if any, with the Deputy Chief Registrar of the Federal High Court in Kaduna.”

    The case was adjourned till March 26 and 27 for trial.

  • Kaduna assembly and El-rufai probe

    Kaduna assembly and El-rufai probe

    By Ibrahim Mustapha Pambegua

    SIR: The political cold war between former Kaduna State Governor Nasir El-rufai and incumbent Governor Uba Sani has taken another interesting dimension with the Kaduna State House of Assembly constituting a 13-member committee to probe financial dealings, loans, grants and project implementation from 2015 to 2023 under the ex-governor.

    Recall that last month, during a town hall meeting with stakeholders, Governor Sani made a shocking revelation on the financial position of the state. He said he inherited a huge debt totalling $587million and N85billion, besides 115 contractual liabilities from the previous administration, making it difficult for him to pay workers’ salaries. He explained that N7billion out of the N10billion federal allocation due to the state in the month of March was deducted to service the debt.

    The disclosure about the state’s public debt had pitched the camp of former governor against the present government, leading to war by proxies.  Maryam mai Rusau, an ally and staunch supporter of El-rufai, had to pay the price for daring the governor. In an interview she granted to the media, she accused Governor Sani of biting the fingers that feed him. Maryam was later suspended by the state’s chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC).  Bashir El-rufai, a son of the ex-governor, fired salvos describing Sani as incompetent and surrounded by incompetent aides. Another El-rufai ally, Aisha Galadima, was arrested by the DSS for allegedly posting incriminating views against Sani on social media in February. She was later released.

    Sani’s outburst over the state’s indebtedness and the controversy it generated will shape the politics of the state in the coming days. Meanwhile, the state assembly’s decision to probe the last administration is nothing but an attempt to shift loyalty to the present government. When the last administration was using the loans and grants to implement infrastructural development, or diverting the funds as they want us to believe, none among them raised the alarm or called El-rufai to order. Some members of the assembly including the Speaker are not first timers, they served in the 9th assembly and failed to check El-rufai throughout his 8-year tenure in line with the doctrine of check and balances enshrined in the Constitution.

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      The lawmakers, who were merely rubber stamp during El-rufai’s administration, suddenly found their voices after he left office. This is double standard and treachery. While the lawmakers may probe the former governor, summon his officials and contractors to clarify issues, they undermined themselves by not carrying out their oversight legislative duty during the last administration. Unless the assembly is acting the script of the current governor, they should have known that he was complicit in the state’s indebtedness. As chairman of Senate committee on finance in the 9th assembly, Sani helped the ex-governor to get the loans. Therefore, he is fully aware of the state’s loans; the handover notes also explicitly stated the assets and liabilities of the state. What is the furore and fuss?

    Though the ex-governor boasted he never stole a kobo from the loans and pointed out to doubting Thomases some projects he executed with the funds, he needs to come and prove his innocence. As for the state assembly, it needs to tarry awhile and do what is expected of it at the right time. If members had exercised their constitutional right, and requested the ex-governor to explain how he spent the loans and other financial dealings during his tenure, they would have saved the state from the present political feud.

    • Ibrahim Mustapha Pambegua, imustapha650@gmail.com

  • Teach them, El Rufai

    GOVERNOR Nasir El Rufai of Kaduna State, on Monday, enrolled his six-year-old son, Abubakar, into Primary One at the Capital School Malali, Kaduna, a public school, in fulfillment of a promise he made in 2017.

    By enrolling his son in the public school, El Rufai seeks to reinvent his cantankerous repute on charitable footing. To succeed, he needs empathy and media mention; these he is getting in dubious overload.

    For instance, the social media debates the imperative of his widely publicised visit to his son’s school and the suspicious photo ops; so doing, El Rufai scuds to acclaim on a slippery scallop shell, the heraldic shield of the random politician’s crafty origins.

    In 2017, the Kaduna governor reportedly vowed in a state broadcast, to enroll his child in a public school when he clocks six.

    He said: “As we make progress, we will require our senior officials to enroll their children in public schools. And I will by personal example ensure that my son that will be six years of age in 2019 will be enrolled in a public school in Kaduna State, by God’s grace.”

    Shortly after he enrolled his child, El Rufai explained to newsmen: “I made that commitment because I believe that it is only when all political leaders have their children in public schools that we will pay due attention to quality of public education.”

    Mother of the child, Ummi, described her husband’s action as “a strong message to our leaders and the elites, that we need to start making things work from within our homes.

    “By the time we start attending public hospitals and send our children to public schools, the system will get better,” she said.

    On his part, little Abubakar said: “I am sad that I will miss my old school, my friends and my teachers. But I have to help my father keep his promise.”

    Vintage El Rufai. His statement resonates harmoniously with his wife and son’s thus fulfilling the purpose of his craftily scripted political high drama. Some of the circulated pictures of his latest manoeuvre show him in various poses with his son. There is one in which he spots a dreamy mien staring at six-year-old Abubakar, while the latter stares beyond the governor, pulling at his bag strap.

    That shot, among others, was carefully chosen to portray the governor as a bleeding Goliath, eager to immerse in his people’s plight.

    Whatever his critics’ argument against him, El Rufai has stolen some thunder. His action depicts classic artifice. But praiseworthy artifice, given the ignorance of his audience in the theatre of the blind.

    El Rufai’s action no doubt intones the flurry of a jazzy altarpiece. In the garish epiphany, the governor invades our picture plane, seeking to dominate the public eye and mind. Does he?

    Having attracted condemnation via his recent rants up north and in Lagos, El Rufai drifts like flotsam against the elements of Nigeria’s political deep; eventually, he hopes to bathe in propitious sunlight.

    The Kaduna governor understands that the most essential skill in political theatre is artifice. Political leaders, who deploy artifice to create a sense of faux intimacy with citizens, hardly need to be sincere or competent. All they need is an inspiring personal narrative.

    Honesty becomes tangential in their quest for empathy and appeal. The emotive quality of the narrative is, however, paramount.

    Those incapable of artifice are deemed unworthy of the people’s votes. They are considered ‘unreal.’ Their unreality, however, is never solely a function of their inability to deploy artifice to political and personal advantage but a consequence of their self-deceit.

    While El Rufai betrays studious mathematical calculation in quest of higher political office in 2023, the members of the idle Presidential Aspirants Coming Together (PACT), for instance, careen in self-deception or what some public commentator rightly identified as ‘elite naivete.’

    The supposedly intelligent, vibrant youths, who vowed to make PACT a platform on which the best and most acceptable aspirants, are backed by all to fly the youth’s presidential flag in 2019 against the might of Nigeria’s behemoth parties, are disconcertingly quiet few months after they got outclassed and out-played in Nigeria’s general elections.

    For all their presumed depth, the PACT collective crumbled as the ‘young’ aspirants bickered and whined like clueless youngsters over a kite. Selfishness, greed and immaturity hampered their bid to gift Nigeria with what could have been an inspiring team of bright, spirited candidates or a semblance of it.

    Forget PACT, where are the likes of Kingsley Moghalu? Of course, their apologists would claim that they are quietly impacting lives, raising protégés. But of what use is their influence and mentorship, where their impact resonates like the tired drizzle atop an ocean of filth?

    Moghalu and PACT may learn a manoeuvre or two from the likes of El Rufai. Agreed, artifice is hardly the way to go, but they need to get off their high horse and engage with people at the grassroots, purposefully.

    The ones whose votes would determine their fates as aspirants and self-proclaimed Messiahs are never present at TEDtalk events. They are never part of the ‘elite’ and ‘sophisticated’ audience of ‘26, 000’ that crowd the seats at The Platform, their elite talk-shop.

    There is no gainsaying that fora like The Platform are pivotal, partially, to the spread of progressive waves of consciousness and political awareness among the youth and supposedly literate voter divide, but at the end, the super-charged debates and inspiring deliberations peter out beyond the walls of their talk-shop, like the drone of dung beetles outside the latrine.

    It’s 2019 and El Rufai presents with ‘lessons’ on political savvy. Let the “youthful disrupters” understand that their usual practice of dismissing the north and the incumbent ruling class as a coven of political illiterates depicts greater naivete and illiteracy on their part.

    It’s about time they got involved with the people. Terrorism, flooding, internal displacement, grinding poverty, among others, present wonderful opportunities for them to sow seeds of hope and acclaim among Nigeria’s vulnerable, voter divide.

    What if Moghalu and the PACT collective summon their savvy and socio-economic capital to renovate and equip Primary Healthcare Centres (PHCs), schools and roads across Nigeria’s neglected regions? Imagine the political currency that could afford them en route the 2023 elections?

    Imagine Fela Durotoye on a one month sojourn, in the northeast, bolstering relief efforts with gifts of a honest smile, provisions and scholarships, far from the arena of artifice and applause.

    Imagine Sowore exuding a different kind of spunk and spittle; one that sees him commencing his #RevolutionNow crusade down south by seeking justice and compensation for victims of Chevron Nigeria Ltd (CNL)’s 74-day fire disaster in the Ilaje Local Government area of Ondo State.

    But these would require them to actually engage with disadvantaged folk and communities at the grassroots. It would require that they actually feel. They would rather wait to mount The Platform to speak easy or roll their sleeves on a task with the random labourer and market woman of the sidewalk, for the camera, at election time.

    Yet theirs is a curious form of artifice. But it pales, distressingly, to El Rufai’s enrollment of his ward in a public school. That’s a tactical manoeuvre.

  • N614b bailout cash: Governors insist on terms for refund

    STATE governors are not prepared to meet the two-week deadline given them by the Federal Government to refund the N614billion bailout given to them in 2017.

    They are insisting on the 20-year repayment agreement reached by the two sides before the funds were released, The Nation gathered authoritatively on Saturday.

    They are also asking the presidency to prevail on the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and the Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation   to stay action on the deducting the bailout funds until reconciliation has been done.

    A reconciliation team, headed by Governor Nasir el-Rufai of Kaduna State will work with the CBN, the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) and the Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation (OAGF).

    The governors said over $1billion of the bailout was sourced from the NLNG dividends which the states are ordinarily entitled to benefit from.

    It was learnt that the states are pushing for reconciliation to enable the Federal Government to determine their share of the NLNG dividends and deduct same from the outstanding bail out cash to be refunded.

    Although each of the 36 states involved is expected to refund N17.5billion, the governors said the amount credited to the states might be substantially less.

    There were indications last night that the Nigerian Governors Forum (NGF) might meet on Wednesday ahead of the Thursday meeting of the National Economic Council (NEC).

    The Budget Support Facility was given to 35 out of the 36 states of the Federation following accumulated salaries and their inability to pay.

    The facility was advanced to the states through the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) in 2017.

    But at a NEC session on August 23, the presidency decided to ask for the refund of the N614billion bailout.

    The governors however felt “wholesale deductions” will adversely affect the economy of all the states.

    A reliable source said: “The position of the governors is that wholesale deductions will hurt the economy of most states and it will be unfair to the present generation of governors.

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    “Most of the governors who secured the bailout have spent the cash and left office. Some did not even spend the bailout for what it was meant for.

    “More importantly, the Federal Government entered into an agreement with the states that the N614billion would be a loan with a 20-year repayment plan.  They want the FG to honour this agreement.

    “Since government is a continuum, the governors have agreed at NEC to refund the N614billion with a caveat that there must be a reconciliation of the outstanding accruals to the states from NLNG dividends and the N17billion debt owed per state.”

    Giving an insight into the background of what led to the conditions given by state governors, another source said: “While we give credit to President Muhammadu Buhari for displaying rare statesmanship in bailing out the states, the truth is that about $1billion of the cash came from the NLNG dividends.

    “All the states are stakeholders in NLNG and they are entitled to dividends. The governors are saying that you cannot lend them what belongs to them. They are demanding a reconciliation of their share of the dividends from NLNG with the outstanding Budget Support loan/ debt.

    “Thereafter, the government and the states will now meet to come up with a refund process of whatever is the difference as outstanding debt.”

    A governor said: “We have raised a reconciliation panel, which is headed by Governor Nasir el-Rufai of Kaduna State. The governor will work with the CBN, NNPC and OAGF.

    “The issues in contention between the Federal Government and the governors are reconciliation of records and the date of the commencement of the refund.

    “As governors, we believe that if there is no reconciliation acceptable to all parties, there should be no refund.

    “The CBN Governor is however adamant that states must refund the bail out because it came from its vault. The apex bank made the bailout available to the states.”

    Speaking ahead of the National Economic Council (NEC) meeting on Thursday, a government source said: “The refund is likely to be part of the agenda because the Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Mrs. Zainab Ahmed on August 10 said the deduction of the refund will start in two weeks.

    “The governors might meet on Wednesday to review the situation ahead of the NEC session.”

     

  • Between el-Rufai and free speech

    LEFT to the Kaduna State governor, Nasir el-Rufai, he would not mind being regarded as the most tyrannical governor and politician in Nigeria. He simply doesn’t care how he is perceived, nor what anyone thinks about him as an elected person who has done his utmost to destroy the foundations of the democracy that has given him so much publicity and probably undeserved relevance. Speaking during the presentation of a book, Digital Wealth, by blogger Japheth Omojuwa in Abuja last Tuesday, Mallam el-Rufai insisted he would force those who tweet or re-tweet fake news about Kaduna State to be brought to the state for prosecution, if the tweets lead to loss of life or pandemonium. Hear, hear.

    The haughtiness with which he phrased his threats is both damning of his disputed credential as a democrat and frightening about what fate awaits democracy in the hands of politicians like him. Hear him in full and unedited: “We should not confuse freedom of expression with freedom to kill. If you tweet something that is fake or you tweet something that is reckless without checking and it leads to the death of people, then you deserve to be tried at least as an accessory before or after the fact of murder. In Kaduna State we have done that very aggressively because there are things that have been put on social media that have led to the death of people. So, we take it very seriously. You cannot sit in Port Harcourt or Lagos and start posting stuff that leads to societal instability in Kaduna and we let you go. We will file charges, we will go and collect you from Port Harcourt or Lagos and bring you before a judge in Kaduna and the judge will decide whether you are guilty. We’ve done that two or three times. The people we have done this to are still being prosecuted. If you want to tweet something about Kaduna, be very careful because I am watching.”

    Despite the ruling of the governorship election petition tribunal, there is still no incontrovertible evidence that Mallam el-Rufai won the last Kaduna governorship poll. He is not liked, he is irascible, has shown no sentiment for democracy or the rule of law, promotes Fulani exceptionalism, and talks nineteen to the dozen, declaiming upon subjects far beyond his ken, indeed on subjects like religious practices which he has no business meddling in. Now, in addition to this burdensome cargo, he is seeking to regulate free speech and, being an exponent of unitary system of government, plans to cross state borders to effect arrests and violate the rights and freedoms of Nigerians in the same atrocious way he has hobbled Kaduna State. Hopefully, his fellow governors will make him realise that simply because the police are the public and ignoble face of Nigeria’s unitary system does not entitle him to ride roughshod over other states. One state is enough for his tyranny.

    Indeed, in his remarks during the Abuja book launch he used Lagos and Port Harcourt as examples of states where he believes the fake news practice predominates and where freedom of expression is abused. It is clear what chicanery he has afoot, especially as he has boasted that, using the state’s cowed judicial system, he is already dealing with a few people who had crossed his path. If in their political battles with him Senators Shehu Sani and Suleiman Hunkuyi could not get the protection the constitution vouchsafed them and the justice they deserved and demanded, and the people of Southern Kaduna are short-changed and alienated, how can those he has dragged before his state’s judicial system ever hope to get justice under the nose of a man who gloats at his opponents misfortune? Not only is federalism misinterpreted and misconceived in Nigeria generally, it is also being misused in Kaduna in particular.

    Note very well the terrible assault on free speech being masterminded by Mallam el-Rufai. For a governor who indiscreetly announced that some Kajuru natives massacred 66 Fulani people in Southern Kaduna early this year contrary to the evidence presented by the alleged suspects, what does it take him to present fake evidence of a pandemonium or even of death to justify the arrest of so-called fake news tweeters? The problem is not that fake news does not exist, or that tweeters do not sometimes exceed themselves by deliberately concocting falsehood. The problem is that Mallam el-Rufai himself ought to be put on trial for, for instance, paying off murderers by his own admission, demolishing opponents’ houses on trumped-up charges, and lying against a whole people as he did against Southern Kaduna, among other things. The same governor who cannot discipline himself on anything, and who has shown no proper understanding of the rule of law or of democracy, is purporting to stand up for the law. Posting fake news is deplorable, but ruling a state oppressively and undermining its peace and stability is even more deplorable. Who will check the checker, especially someone who has benefited so much from democracy and given nothing in return? Had the Kaduna governor given a presentation on the menace of fake news and suggested ways of dealing with the problem without undermining or curtailing freedom of expression, he would have been applauded and regarded as a sound politician worthy of support. And to think he has interest in the presidency!

     

  • 2023: El-Rufai under fire over call to end zoning

    KADUNA State Governor Nasir El-Rufai came under fire on Monday over his suggestion that zoning of political offices should be de-emphasised.

    Senior lawyers and rights activists believe that El-Rufai is flying a kite so that the North will retain power after the expiration of President Muhamamdu Buhari’s two-term tenure in 2023.

    Senator Shehu Sani, who took on those mulling the idea of the North retaining power in the post-2023 era, said it would amount to ingratitude not to allow power to return to the South.

    He spoke during a Sallah visit to elder statesman and Second Republic Governor of Old Kaduna State, Alhaji Balarabe Musa.

    El-Rufai stirred controversy last week when he said Nigeria could not continue on the same path of zoning political positions based on regions.

    The governor made his position known in a prologue titled: “Defeating a determined incumbent – The Nigerian experience”, which he contributed to a book – “Power of Possibilities and Politics of Change in Nigeria” – written by the Director-General of the Progressives Governors’ Forum (PGF) Salihu Lukman.

    He writes: “Even with our success in the 2015 elections, there is room for improvement. Barriers to political equality, such as our seemingly entrenched though informal rule for zoning candidacies according to regions of origin, need to be de-emphasised and ultimately abandoned in favour of an emphasis on qualification, competence and character.”

    Those who spoke on the issue in separate interviews include former Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) President Dr Olisa Agbakoba (SAN), Chief Emeka Ngige (SAN), a constitutional lawyer Ike Ofuokwu, and a group of Igbo lawyers, the Otu Oka Iwu (Law Society).

    Sani recalled how the support of southerners, particularly the Southwest facilitated President Buhari’s victory in 2015.

    Sani said: “My view on that is very simple; it is an act of ingratitude for any northerner to think that by 2023, he or she should aspire for office in the view of the fact that, Southerners, particularly the southwest did everything possible to support the northern candidate to emerge as the president in 2015.

    “It will amount to changing the rules of the game at half time, when you are leading two zero. It can also be likened to removing the ladder after you have plucked the fruit.

    “The North should appreciate the support of progressive-minded nationalists from the southwest or the southern part of Nigeria who worked tirelessly to remove the PDP from power in 2015.

    “We have not forgotten that President Buhari had contested three times without becoming President and on the fourth time, with the support of people from the South, he emerged the President of the country.

    “It would be unfair after eight years, for us to think of continuing to hold the grip and levers of power in Nigeria.

    “Another point is that, in an ideal society where ethnicity, religion and other interests play no role, we can think of that in the farther future, but where all these issues continue, in a political scheme of Nigeria, we can’t shy aware from them.

    “What we need to put into perspective is the fact that it will be a serious threat to unity and peace of our country if one part of the country will continue to dominate the political sphere of the country due to its demographic majority and land size.

    “I’m a socialist and I believe that the one who should preside over the affairs of the country should be competent, but is it competence that brought the ruling party to power in 2015?

    “I think we should be very frank to ourselves and it will also be good for the President that he should rein in people in his party, to caution them against dropping such kind of discourse while at its infant stage now, before it overheat the polity.

    “After President Buhari, power needs to rotate to some of these major geopolitical zones; you cannot close the door after you have gone inside. SouthWest has helped us to be where we are today.

    “You can’t talk of competency when you have not produced an Igbo president. Are they not Nigerians? You cannot continue to punish them for the offence which they are not architect of? That is my view.

    “And for the North, it is important for the President to set a policy agenda in the next four years to address the socio economic and security problems facing the northern part of Nigeria.

    “The president must invest in the North in agriculture, education, infrastructure for us to prepare for a restructured Nigeria. Northern governors must complement that.”

    Elder statesman Tanko Yakassai, said: “It is up to the APC, because neither Nasir El-Rufai nor Shehu Sani can speak for the APC and the North.

    “They are expressing their individual opinions, because they do not have the locus standi to speak for the North on the issue of zoning. But one thing I can say is that they are members of the APC, which has embraced the zoning arrangement since President Buhari came to power. So, it is up to the party whether to retain the zoning arrangement in 2023 or abandon it.

    “I doubt if the APC as a party would subscribe to El-Rufai’s view. In fact, the position of El-Rufai would not auger well for the APC as a party in 2023, because it would undermine the party’s standing in the South. It would be counter-productive for the party to adopt such a position, given the interest of its members from the South who supported the North to grab power in 2015 and retain it in the last general elections.

    “Though it is not backed by the constitution, zoning is a reality of the Nigerian situation, so sooner or later it has to be adopted as part of our laws, because it provides for the stability of the country.”

    He noted that El-Rufai’s statement had sent a wrong signal, because APC members in the South would think twice on whether to continue supporting the party or not.

    “This is because APC members in the South will not see it as a statement by an individual; they would regard it as those of a clique in the North determined to hold on to power.  Therefore, it would be a danger signal for the South to continue supporting the APC”, he said.

    The National Chairman of the United Progressive Party (UPP), Chief Chekwas Okorie, said the idea of a northern president in 2023 will not fly.

    He said: “I have always had the position that Nigeria does not have constitution that has provided for rotation of power. But, at the same time, the rotational arrangement has become conventional. It is that rotational convention that made it easier for President Buhari to defeat a sitting president in 2015, because 2015 was widely perceived as the turn of a northerner to become president. Since President Buhari towered above every other person from the North, he won.

    He added: “In the build up to 2019, the UPP as a party – the party I lead – we knew that any person running for president from the South would be swimming against the tide. So, we decided to allow the North to complete its eight years, by not fielding a candidate for the presidential election, and that was what happened.

    “It is that same convention that Nigeria would observe by 2023. Nevertheless, that doesn’t stop any person from the North wishing to run, but the person will never be able to win the presidential election. Such persons will be like those southerners who ran in 2019 and never stood any chance of winning.

    “Owing to the fact that it is not a law, anybody can run. The likes of El-Rufai can run, if they wish to do so. But, if El-Rufai is able to win Kaduna State, he should thank his stars. Buhari with all his qualities and following in the “North was not able to win on three previous occasions. But when Nigerians said it is the turn of the North, forces came together to mobilise support for him. In the South, the Southwest especially played a key role in making sure that he won.

    “If for anything, the contest for leadership in 2023 will be between the Southwest and the Southeast. But, if equity has anything to do with politics, it should be the turn of the Southeast, considering the fact that the region has not produced any elected leader since independence.

    “Anybody who believes that the next president would come from the North, based on what El-Rufai is insinuating, is indulging in wishful thinking. I can tell you categorically that the idea of a northern president in 2023 will not fly.”

    Lagos APC chieftain Lanre Razaq dismissed El-Rufai’s comment as divisive and undermining Nigeria’s unity.

    He said nobody should toy with the unity the country was enjoying through the political arrangement put in place.

    Razaq said: He said: “Some people don’t know the value of Nigeria being together. A situation where you consider some segment of the country not entitled to the presidency is the most vicious act that can befall the country.”

    Agbakoba is of the view that zoning does not matter in ideal societies, adding that it will take time for Nigeria to attain such democratic maturity.

    He said: “In a truly organised state, the ideal is to place competence and character at the heart of the minimum standards for public service.

    “Unfortunately, we are far from an ideal Nigeria and we will have to struggle to get the balance right as this policy is entrenched in the Constitution and designated federal character.”

    Ngige said while El-Rufai is entitled to his opinion, he should have canvassed such position in 1999.

    The senior advocate said: “Ordinarily, his view is supportable where all things are equal, but in the peculiar circumstances of our political evolution, the three or four major ethnic groups should be allowed to have a feel of that office before abolishing the concept of zoning.

    “To do so now will be most unfair. For now, rotation of the presidency is still vital for our national unity, cohesion and equity.

    “In so doing, the zone or section whose turn it is to produce a President must ensure that their first eleven are presented as candidates for the office, thereby giving Nigerian voters multiple choice of capable candidates to pick from.”

    Read Also: El-Rufai threatens to sack commissioners

    Ngige noted that since the return to civil rule in 1999, no Nigerian has been precluded from contesting for the highest office in Nigeria on account of where he comes from.

    He said: “In 1999, Olusegun Obasanjo secured the ticket of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) and Dr. Ogbonnaya Onu secured the ticket of All Progressives Party (APP). Strangely, overnight the ticket was surrendered to Alhaji Umaru Shinkafi, who ran a joint ticket of AD/APP with Chief Olu Falae of AD.

    “In 2003, more political parties were registered, enabling candidates like Chief Emeka Odumegwu Ojukwu, Jim Nwobodo, Arthur Nwankwo, Chris Okotie, Tunji Braithwaite, Gani Fawehinmi, Balarabe Musac Olopade Agoro, Pere Ajuwa and others to contest without let or hindrance. Obasanjo of PDP won that election, though in controversial circumstances.

    “In 2007, more parties were registered and these same candidates also contested freely. In 2011, 2015 and 2019 candidates for the presidency also emerged from different parts of the country and Nigerian voters made their choice.

    “So, in effect, realistically speaking, rotation is just in the minds of the electorate as nobody has been precluded from contesting for President on account of where he comes from.

    “It is just one or two of the major political parties that promote the concept of zoning and has succeeded in doing so because they fielded popular candidates.

    “If the other parties had fielded candidates more popular than the victorious candidates, they could have won thereby rendering El-Rufai’s views academic,” Ngige said.

    Mike Ozekhome (SAN) believed the Kaduna governor was “flying a kite”, adding that El-Rufai was fronting for the “northern elite” which understand power better than “the southern establishment.”

    According to him, northern power brokers would not be willing to give up power after President Buhari’s tenure ends in 2023.

    Ozekhome said: “Southern politicians will have a shocker coming to them, because the north will not let go of power.”

    Another SAN, Chief Emeka Okpoko (SAN) said the timing of El-Rufai’s call was suspicious. He wondered if “there wasn’t a selfish motive” behind the governor’s suggestion.

    Okpoko said: “If it was said because they (the North) have exhausted their term, it becomes something else entirely. Politicians should be elected based on competence, no doubt about it.

    “But is the call genuine? Is it bona fide? Is there anything behind it? Is there any intention that is unclear to us behind it? I don’t see him (El-Rufai) as a straight shooter. There could be something behind it.”

    Okpoko suggested that if the call for abolishment of zoning of the Presidency is implemented at this time “without letting the Presidency rotate, without allowing it to go round” it would not make sense….”

    He noted, for instance, that the Southeast had not tasted the Presidency.

    “For me, he (El-Rufai) didn’t say it bona fide, he may have a selfish purpose.”

    Ofuokwu, an Anioma leader of thought in Delta State, believes El-Rufai’s views were selfish.

    He said: “Mallam El-Rufai is only laying foundation for his selfish desire to contest for president in 2023.

    “I concede to the fact that qualification, competence and character should be the emphasis. However, due regards and consideration must be given to the other sections of the country.

    “We the Anioma people are irrevocably committed to zoning of the presidency. To suggest otherwise as El-Rufai just did, is hopelessly quixotic.”

    The Otu Oka Iwu (Law Society), in a statement by its President Chief Chuks Ikokwu, said the tussle for President will not be so fierce if power is devolved to the regions.

    The group said it was instructive that El-Rufai chaired the All Progressives Congress (APC) committee that recommended restructuring as the best governance model for Nigeria.

    “It is very disappointing that Governor El-Rufai has abandoned his committee’s report so soon after the national elections. This would seem opportunistic. His current preoccupation with the zoning formula is clearly a needless distraction.

    “We urge Governor El-Rufai to focus on encouraging the Federal Government to revisit the restructuring agenda which was on the front-burner during the national elections, and which has virtually been endorsed by all zones of the country as the only way forward.

    “A restructured Nigeria with devolution of power to the federating units will practically make the current fierce tussle for the centre needless.

    “Nigeria needs a re-engineering of its foundation; otherwise any structure put on it will not stand. It is futile to talk of zoning of political offices or otherwise when the structure of the federation is faulty.

    “It behoves on Governor El-Rufai to channel his efforts towards delivering the noble and all-important restructuring agenda,” the Otu Oka Iwu said.

  • We’ll help El-Rufai get $350m World Bank loan, says Rep

    A MEMBER House of Representatives representing Kachia /Kagarko federal constituency of Kaduna State, Gabriel Saleh Zock, has declared that the priority of all the lawmakers from the state is the socio-economic development of the state.

    Zock said the representatives are committed to effective representation and will do anything in the interest of the state, including assisting the state governor, Nasir El-Rufai, secure $350 million World Bank loan he had requested earlier.

    The governor had during the 8th National Assembly applied for the World Bank loan, but senators from the state’s three senatorial zones kicked against it, expressing fear that generations yet unborn would not be able to repay such loan, if granted and taken.

    Read Also: El-Rufai threatens to sack commissioners

    Addressing reporters in Kaduna at the weekend, Zock said: “Our priority is to ensure that we represent Kaduna State effectively. We will ensure that whatever will bring development to Kaduna State is given priority above any other thing.”

    He added: “We are at the National Assembly believe that since it is Kaduna people that took us to the assembly, whatever the governor of the state, Malam Nasir El-Rufai , and the people of the state want from us, we will do it for them.”

  • El-Rufai, Sani congratulate Muslims

    KADUNA State Governor Nasir El-Rufai and the senator representing Kaduna Central, Uba Sani, have felicitated with the Muslim community on this year’s Eid-el-Kabir.

    They urged Muslims to reflect on the meaning of the festival of sacrifice and make positive sacrifices to lift Nigeria out its woes.

    In a message by the Commissioner for Internal Security, Samuel Aruwan, the governor noted that in troubled times, there are poignant lessons from having absolute faith in Almighty Allah, which the festival commemorates.

    He urged the Muslims Ummah to celebrate the festival with modesty.

    El-Rufai called for renewed commitment to exemplary conduct, goodwill and peaceful relations with other members of humanity.

    In his Sallah message, Sani said: “We are a resilient people and must see our current challenges as opportunities to rebuild and strengthen our country. We must renew our faith in One Nigeria. We have come a long way as a people and must not allow agents of destabilisation to put a knife in what holds us together.

    “I assure my constituents, the good people of Kaduna Central Senatorial District, of my total commitment to their welfare and development. I will continue to give full support to our dynamic and resourceful governor, His Excellency, Mallam Nasir El-Rufai, as he strives to make Kaduna State second to none in Nigeria. We are committed to changing all the negative development indices and turning the state to a model in human-centred development.

    Read Also: Maritime efforts paying off, says El-Rufai

    “I urge our people to continue to give their full support to President Muhammadu Buhari. He has shown leadership. He is totally devoted to the task of lifting millions of Nigerians out of poverty and frontally tackling the challenge of insecurity. He is a leader we must trust.

    “I call on Nigerians to remember in prayers the Senate of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, especially its focused, patriotic and dynamic President, Senator Ahmad Lawan. He is poised to give new meaning to Legislature-Executive partnership to fast-track Nigeria’s growth and development. The Senate, and indeed the National Assembly, needs the understanding and support of Nigerians to put in place pro-people and pro-poor policies and legislations that would lift millions of our people out of poverty.

    “I see a silver lining in our current challenges. If we keep faith and make the necessary sacrifices, our nation will bounce back and take its rightful place in the comity of developed nations.”