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Former Secretary-General of the Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF), Anthony Sani, has criticised what he described as the unfair treatment of former Kaduna State Governor Nasir El-Rufai by successive governments, despite acknowledging that he is not a personal admirer of the former governor.
Reacting to the detention of El-Rufai and the attack on him by the Defence Minister, General Christopher Musa (Rtd), Sani, who is currently a member of the Board of Trustees of the ACF, said his criticism of El-Rufai’s personality and style of governance did not prevent him from questioning what he considers an unjust treatment of the former governor.
“I am not a fan of former governor El-Rufai,” Sani said, describing him as someone he sees as “grimly obsessed with duty at the expense of humanity.”
According to him, El-Rufai’s approach to governance sometimes appeared to place strict adherence to rules above human considerations.
“He does not seem to know the law is made for man and not man made for the law,” he said.
However, Sani said his reservations about El-Rufai should not be interpreted as support for what he described as the former governor’s current treatment by government authorities.
“Yet I feel the former governor is not fairly treated by the governments,” he stated.
Sani said the issue of El-Rufai had become particularly troubling because, in his view, the former governor had not received fair treatment from the authorities.
“Yet, the treatment being meted to former Governor El-Rufai by the governments offend many people’s sense of justice,” he stated.
Sani cited El-Rufai’s rejection by the Senate during the ministerial screening process as one example of what he considers unfair treatment.
“For example, President Bola Tinubu personally pleaded with El-Rufai to serve as minister only for him to be rejected by the senate without clear reasons,” he said.
The Senate had declined to confirm El-Rufai as a ministerial nominee in 2023, alongside two other nominees.
Sani also questioned allegations attributed to Chief of Defence Staff, General Christopher Musa, concerning El-Rufai and killings in Southern Kaduna.
He argued that the allegation that El-Rufai deliberately planned the killing of people in Southern Kaduna on ethnic and religious grounds may not be consistent with the historical record.
“The allegations by Christopher Musa that Governor El-Rufai deliberately planned the killing of people in Southern Kaduna on basis of their ethnicity and religion may not withstand the fact of history,” Sani said.
He cited El-Rufai’s reported calls for military action against forests used as hideouts by bandits and kidnappers as evidence that the former governor had advocated aggressive action against criminal groups.
Sani recalled that El-Rufai had once asked the Federal Government to bomb forests harbouring bandits and kidnappers, regardless of whether the criminals used victims as human shields, or alternatively allow him to engage mercenaries to carry out the operation.
He said the administration of former President Muhammadu Buhari rejected the requests because of concerns over possible civilian casualties and international reaction.
“President Buhari turned down the requests on the ground that comity of nations would cry foul due to the likely heavy collateral damage such actions would cause,” Sani said.
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Sani further argued that El-Rufai’s record in Kaduna did not, in his assessment, support portraying him as a religious fanatic or fundamentalist.
“The way Governor El-Rufai treated the leader of the Shiites, Ibraheem El-Zazaki in Zaria suggests he is not a fanatic nor fundamentalist,” he said.
He also pointed to the former governor’s infrastructure projects in Kaduna as part of the reasons he believes the corruption allegations against him should be carefully assessed.
“In addition, the work Governor El-Rufai did in construction of roads in Kaduna town does not suggest he is that corrupt as portrayed by the governments,” Sani said.
Sani ultimately appealed to the authorities to base their actions against the former governor on established facts rather than what he described as an unfair portrayal.
“I therefore plead with the governments to keep to what they know in their treatment of former Governor El-Rufai,” he said.
The former ACF secretary-general also expressed support for President Bola Tinubu’s economic reforms, particularly the decision to remove the petrol subsidy.
Sani said the reforms were necessary to reduce Nigeria’s dependence on oil revenue, which he described as wealth that does not necessarily result from productive effort.
“Make no mistake, I like President Bola Tinubu’s economic reforms because they are designed to wean us from over dependence on oil wealth which is not result of any hard work,” he said.
He also praised Tinubu for going ahead with the fuel subsidy removal despite having previously opposed the policy.
According to Sani, Tinubu demonstrated “patriotic courage” by reversing his earlier position and removing the subsidy on May 29, 2023.
“President Bola Tinubu demonstrated patriotic courage by swallowing his words of opposition to removal of fuel subsidy way back to 2012, and removed the subsidy on 29/5/2023,” he said.
Sani argued that the decision showed a willingness to put national interest ahead of political calculations.
“I say he is a patriot because he removed the subsidy despite knowing such actions could affect his political fortune negatively,” he said.
“By doing that, the president has underscored the trite that great leaders pursue causes higher than themselves as worthy impulse.”
Despite his support for the administration’s economic policies, Sani said he disagreed with what he described as shortcomings in Tinubu’s handling of Nigeria’s diversity and governance.
“Yet I do not agree with his management of the nation’s diversity and failure to see governance as art of balancing competing demands among constituents and socioeconomic sectors,” he said.
