Malam Nasir El-Rufai
By Olusegun Adeniyi
I learnt El-Rufai made the statements below recently.
“APC is a party of illiterates.”
“Peter Obi told me APC plants people in Labour Party and PDP to destabilize these parties…”
Now, let me break some things down here because wisdom is profitable to direct. When a man lacks wisdom, he will miss the road, no matter how brilliant he is.
As brilliant a politician and administrator as El-Rufai is, his greatest weakness is his inability to manage himself when he’s in a state of political inactivity, which ultimately leads to his failure to tame his tongue. Any political observer who has studied El-Rufai closely will know that he lacks verbal restraint whenever he’s in a state of political inertia.
First, let me give him his flowers. That this government is in place today is due to the support of El-Rufai and other governors and party faithful within the APC. He stood to be counted and, along with other APC governors, even went to court to challenge the Naira redesign that led to a scarcity of cash in the run-up to the campaign and election season, making things very difficult.
Also, he was one of the leading voices adamant that the presidency must go back to the South after Buhari’s two-term tenure and that anything contrary to that would not be supported by Northern governors. He did not shy away from declaring his support for President Tinubu. Even when he had already planned to move on to other things after his last term as governor, BAT made him promise to stay around and be part of his government if he won.
In carrying out that promise, BAT nominated him as a minister. He was the only nominee who already had his ministry assigned before Senate screening and had a proposal written and agreed upon with the president regarding the reforms he intended to carry out in the power sector.
Further demonstrating the political relationship between him and the president, eight of his former commissioners are currently working under this administration—one works directly with Mr. President, another is a deputy director at the CBN, while others hold strategic positions. In fact, Hadiza Bala-Mohammed, his protégé, still works directly in the President’s office.
Why the Senate refused to approve his nomination was never made public, except for the statement that circulated, claiming it was based on a security report. What was in the security report? Nobody came out to tell the public. Some people have argued that the President should have railroaded and overruled the Senate to ensure El-Rufai was screened and confirmed as a minister, no matter what.
My take on such insinuations is that Nigerians are often the greatest hypocrites regarding their fidelity to democratic norms. They are the ones who demand that the President follow the rule of law and uphold the separation of powers between the three arms of government. Yet, at the same time, they are the ones who would demand that the President act as a dictator, ignore the Senate, overrule them, and force them to do his bidding.
I have seen some say, “Why did President Tinubu not ignore whatever security report was against El-Rufai and demand that the Senate clear him to serve in the cabinet?” The question is, how many of you know the weight and seriousness of that security report?
For the President to accept the Senate’s position on El-Rufai’s screening—especially a President who wanted and begged him to serve in his cabinet so badly—don’t you think that for him to halt it, the matter is likely to have been beyond personal political relationships? This is just me thinking aloud. When personal political relationships and national security issues come into conflict, it is obvious which should take precedence.
Now, let’s go back to El-Rufai. For almost two years, he remained silent, managing his private affairs, which I gave him kudos for because that is what wisdom should dictate. Unfortunately, as I feared, he has now come out, attacking his party, the government, and, as usual, making reckless statements. That has always been my concern with El-Rufai—he speaks recklessly when things seem not to be politically favorable to him.
Let’s backtrack a little and give some examples. If we don’t learn from the lessons of history, we are bound to repeat the same mistakes. After the incumbent president, Bola Tinubu, helped not only to midwife the merger of different legacy parties that formed the APC but also supported the emergence of PMB as the APC candidate, campaigned vigorously for him, and, through internal political machinations, lost the VP slot—what did he do after Buhari became president in 2015?
If we recall, just as many of El-Rufai’s protégés and former commissioners are now in the Tinubu administration, many of Tinubu’s protégés were also appointed by Buhari into his government. However, Tinubu himself was kept away from governance. They made him look like a leper that must not be touched. Yet, he never once uttered a negative statement against PMB, the APC, or the Buhari government.
In fact, despite how he was treated for four years, in 2019, he came out again, supported Buhari’s re-election, toured the country, and campaigned for him. Immediately after the election, he was abandoned once more. If we recall, Tinubu was made a scapegoat by the opposition elements in Nigeria, who held him responsible for what they called Buhari’s maladministration and mismanagement of the country.
This culminated during the EndSARS protest when Tinubu’s private property and business interests were targeted and burned in Lagos. This was a man who held no political position in the country, yet his only “sin” was that he was accused of foisting Buhari on the nation. However, on the few occasions he was asked about the Buhari government, he never once spoke negatively about his party, PMB, or Buhari’s government. He maintained a stoic silence.
Can someone then tell me—what exactly did APC do to El-Rufai that, in less than three years, he is already casting aspersions on his party, calling them names, and running down the government he helped bring into power? Not only that, but he has also started associating with opposition politicians, visiting the SDP headquarters in Abuja for meetings, and coming out to speak against his own party. Is that a sign of a politician who respects party supremacy?
If we recall what the current FCT Minister, Nyesom Wike, said in 2023 when Tinubu, as President-Elect, visited Rivers State—Wike, then Governor, said that what made him admire Tinubu and decide to support him after PDP refused to zone the presidency to the South was that, in 2019, he was sent by PDP to meet Tinubu at his Bourdillon Road house in Lagos.
He said PDP observed that Tinubu had been sidelined by his party, APC, after the 2015 election. So, they believed he must be aggrieved and that PDP should strike while the iron was hot. He said that was the first time he met Tinubu one-on-one. They tried to convince him to join PDP and deliver Southwest votes for a PDP candidate to oust President Buhari and stop his second-term bid.
He said Tinubu refused and told him he would rather die with his party than abandon a house he helped build. That no matter how he was being treated at the time, politics is seasonal, and things would eventually change.
He stated that the ultimate character of a true politician is to endure long-suffering, knowing that things may not always work in their favor, but that should not be a reason to destroy the house they helped build. Wike said that was when his respect for Tinubu doubled.
For me, that’s the hallmark of a true politician. So, the question is—what has APC really done to El-Rufai to warrant his public attacks on his party and the government he supported into office? A ministerial appointment? Is a ministerial appointment a hereditary right for his family?
For the life of me, he has been a DG of a government agency, a former Minister of the FCT, and a two-term governor.
If, this time, he did not clinch a ministerial role, is that enough to run down his party and start to dine and dance with the opposition? For me, El-Rufai is a big disappointment. I held him in high esteem because of his brilliance and widely acknowledged public administration credentials. But brilliance without tact and emotional intelligence will not take you far. No man is an island, and no single tree can make a forest.
I will end with what Jesus told Judas Iscariot: “That which you want to do, do it quickly.” (John 13:27)Selah!
