Mallam Nasir el-Rufai, the stern-looking former governor of Kaduna State, is angry. His natural anger has been accentuated by a bad situation. His deal with President Bola Tinubu has gone soar. So also has Tinubu’s compact with the north gone awry. El-Rufai was there when the deal was struck. He has also been a witness to how the compact turned out to be a bare-faced deception. In his anger, El-Rufai is prancing about like a bird of prey. Like all predators, he has an object of pursuit. He will not let Tinubu, the smart Alec, get away with his trickery. El-Rufai appears set for a showdown.
What is the root of the distemper? The bone of contention revolves around two sister institutions headed by President Tinubu. His Presidency which was paneled into shape by the power-mongering All Progressives Congress (APC) has gone bunkers. The two institutions, under the leadership of Tinubu, appear to have lost their souls. They have become mere fractions in dire search for their integers.
El-Rufai was supposed to be part of this madding crowd. But he was schemed out too early in the day. He was not given the opportunity to belong. Tinubu, the recruiter-in-chief, sold him a dummy. El- Rufai was simply used and dumped with ignominy. For almost two years now, he has borne his degradation with equanimity. He has tried to lick his wounds. But his tormentors never relented in their mischief. They have continued to inflict more mental injuries on his depressed psyche. They did not stop at anything in their bid to undo him. Not too long ago, for instance, they beamed the searchlight on his tenure as governor. They dredged up issues, real or imagined, with a view to giving him a bad name. Now, they have recruited the anti-graft agencies into the scheme. El-Rufai is being investigated for allegations bordering on corrupt enrichment. The plan is to cow him; even break him.
However, unable to come to terms with the latest plot to give him a bad name in order to prepare a ready ground for his hanging, El-Rufai has broken loose. He has drawn the battle line between him and whatever Tinubu represents. Before now, El-Rufai was, more or less, a lone voice crying in the wilderness. He bore the pain and anguish of a derailed APC almost all alone. But his distraught voice appears to have torn through the thickets of the dark night. He can now be heard, loudly and clearly. Whereas everybody knows that the Tinubu administration has been one long night of drudgery for Nigerians, El- Rufai has climbed to the roof top to amplify it. He is making a sing song of Tinubu’s failures. He is incensed that the president he helped to climb to power chose to throw him overboard. He is even more enraged that his region, the North of the country, has been relegated to the background under the Tinubu arrangement. El-Rufai reminds us all that it was his insistence, together with some other northern leaders, on power shift to the south that made it possible for Tinubu to emerge as president. Today, the same north that made Tinubu’s ascension to the office of president possible is being treated as if it does not matter. Tinubu has not just sidelined the region, he has made his government the playground and birthright of his Yoruba kinsmen, particularly those that El-Rufai calls “Lagos boys”.
The north is thoroughly disappointed at this turn of events. They feel betrayed by Tinubu . They see a president who, instead of recognizing and acknowledging the finger that fed him, has chosen to bite it. El-Rufai’s anger, indeed the anger of the north, revolves around this treachery. In the face of this regrettable development, El-Rufai, acerbic and vengeful, will not let Tinubu get away with his slap on the face of the north. He must pay for his betrayal of the region. This venture is what El-Rufai has chosen to undertake on behalf of the concerned north. His is insisting on full revenge. The anger of the north can only be assuaged if Tinubu is made to pay for his indiscretion. El-Rufai’s recent and present actions revolve around this objective.
In fact, El-Rufai has become something of an albatross. He is the troubling object around Tinubu’s neck. With him and his gang, Tinubu’s road to 2027 promises to be rough. He and his angry north are the long bridge that Tinubu must cross if he must enjoy more than a four-year reign at the Presidency. For as long as El-Rufai’s campaign against Tinubu is alive and kicking, the president cannot sleep with his two eyes closed. He is the jinx that Tinubu cannot wish away.
But then, El-Rufai and his angry north need to be as strategic as possible if they must achieve their declared objective. One of the options that had been touted towards the dethronement of Tinubu is the return of power to the north in 2027. But that thinking has since been discredited, considering the fact that it will be injurious to the peace and stability of the country. No one must create the impression that power rotation between north and south is a matter of convenience; or that it can only be carried out at the pleasure of certain persons or groups. Northern takeover of power in 2027 is therefore a poisoned chalice.
That now leaves us with a more realistic option. El-Rufai and his angry north must rally round another southern candidate other than Tinubu for the 2027 presidential election. Since Nigeria must be saved from Tinubu’s misrule, the candidate for the job must be competent and credible. His appeal must transcend the boundaries of religion and ethnicity. That is where the ongoing consensus-building between Peter Obi and progressive northerners comes in. By now, it is clear to the northern elements who midwifed Tinubu’s presidency that they made a mistake. Tinubu, the street star, gave in to all their demands, knowing full well that he will renege on all of them. The northern elite never imagined that a southern president can be as nepotistic as Tinubu. This being the case, it is now time for the north to invest in the east. Peter Obi, the most visible politician from the region, is a virgin ground. He is a mine field of opportunities. He envisions a new Nigeria that will work for all. The north, indeed the entire country, needs to tap into the Peter Obi possibilities. It will take Nigeria away from the anaemic and decadent tradition that we are used to.