Mallam Nasir El-Rufai does not need much introduction. He is former director-general of the Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE). He is former Minister of the Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA). He is former Governor of Kaduna State. He is seen as fearless and courageous, ready to do what many may consider as daring and also foolish, depending on which divide the assessment is coming from. He is controversial. He is smart and goes for opportunities that favour him.
As former Minister of the FCTA, El-Rufai is remembered for the demolition of houses, in his avowed effort to rectify the alteration and disruption of the Abuja masterplan. As former Governor of Kaduna State, he would be remembered as the man under whose watch the state suffered bloodshed and one of the worst inter-religious and inter-ethnic clashes. He would also be remembered as that governor who was not sensitive to the religious divide of Kaduna State, opting for Muslim-Muslim ticket in governorship. As former director-general of BPE, he would be remembered for superintending the selling off of the country’s assets, as directed by the Federal Government, with the attendant controversy and accusations that went with the exercise.
Right from the return of democracy in the country, El-Rufai has been one of the top players in and out government. He was part of the President Olusegun Obasanjo government. He was one of the bitter critics of the President Jonathan Goodluck government. He was elected governor the same time Muhammadu Buhari was elected President. He played a role in the coming to power, albeit the securing of the presidential ticket of the All Progressives Congress (APC) by President Bola Tinubu, the defence of the Muslim-Muslim ticket and the election of Tinubu as President.
One thing that is certain about El-Rufai is his viciousness in opposition. He was vehement in his opposition of the late Umaru Musa Yar’Adua government. He was virulent in criticizing Jonathan as President. However, his ability to sustain loyalty is questionable. Many said that former Vice President of Nigeria, Atiku Abubakar, brought him into government as DG of the BPE and later Minister of the FCTA. He became one of Atiku’s nemeses, siding with Obasanjo in his battle against the former Vice President. He worked against Atiku in the election contest against Buhari. He also worked against Atiku in the presidential election against Tinubu.
Obasanjo made an assessment of El-Rufai, which would always be remembered. He said this of El-Rufai, in his book, “My Watch, Volume 2,” from page 412-413: “A leader must know the character and ability of his subordinates. Character-wise, Nasir (El-Rufai) has not much going for him.
“My vivid recollection of him is penchant for lying, for unfair embellishment of stories and his inability to sustain loyalty for long.”
Thinking deeply about what Obasanjo said of El-Rufai and seeing what is happening between him and President Tinubu, one could say that the President understood the psychology and character of this former governor from Kaduna State and quickly distanced himself from him. With President Tinubu, the law of retributive justice has caught up with El-Rufai and he deserves nobody’s sympathy. El-Rufai was one of the northern governors and politicians who supported the presidential aspiration of Tinubu. He worked against Buhari, the man under whose name he became governor of Kaduna State, in the choice of a presidential candidate of the APC. Even though Buhari never had the courage to openly declare the presidential aspirant he was supporting, his body language showed that his choice was not Tinubu.
Latter developments have shown that El-Rufai’s support for Tinubu at that time was not because he loved him or believed in his ability to do well as President. It was because of his desire to be a running mate to Tinubu. A smart politician, Tinubu never made the mistake of picking him as vice presidential candidate and subsequently Vice President. He rather went for a Kanuri from Borno State, in the person of Kashim Shettima. Some people would say that Tinubu wanted to make El-Rufai minister and actually nominated him. Or that El-Rufai rejected being a minister. Those in this school of thought should then explain why the security agency that screened the ministerial nominees could not clear the former minister of the FCTA, which was why the Senate never cleared him as minister. What played out was that someone brought El-Rufai out and went behind to work against his emergence.
When one sees El-Rufai and the Tinubu government fighting, one cannot help than to say that the chicken has come home to roost. The man who worked for Tinubu to be President and lost out eventually is trying to be populist by criticizing the President and his government and, perhaps, expects applause from us. We cannot fall for that cheap stunt. El-Rufai may have thought that he would get our sympathy when, as one of the speakers at the national conference on Strengthening Democracy in Nigeria held in Abuja, he came hard on the APC and the presidency. He had declared: “I no longer recognise the APC. No party organ has met in two years—no caucus, no NEC, nothing. You don’t even know if it is a one-man show; it’s a zero-man show. You cannot afford to have illiterates, semi-illiterates, and cunning people as your leaders. This is why we end up with the poor leadership we have today.”
Nigerians would not be fooled. Nigerians know El-Rufai well now. Is it now that El-Rufai knows that democracy is far from APC? Is it now that El-Rufai knows that APC has never really functioned as a political party, but rather as a political gathering of birds of different feathers? That organs of APC may not be meeting did not start today. It has been there. And El-Rufai knows. That there is a one-man show, in APC or the federal government of Nigeria, is not news. It has been obvious. That there is Yorubanisation of the federal government by President Tinubu is not a new development in Nigeria. The tendency was manifest at the time El-Rufai and others told Nigerians that Tinubu was the best for the country. His latter-day nationalism is a lie. He is just a hypocrite.
Until El-Rufai tenders a public apology for the role he played in the emergence of Tinubu as President, he should shut up and lick his wounds. Until he apologises to Nigerians also for the presidency of Buhari, he should not show his face in public. The country is still suffering the tragedy of Buhari’s eight-year presidency, which El-Rufai contributed to its emergence and supported. The country is not faring well under the current President that El-Rufai worked for his emergence. It is only El-Rufai’s sincere double apologies that would redeem him. It is only then that he could talk and some of us would listen.