El-Rufa’i’s Erratic Political Meandering (OPINION)
By Bala Maidala
Defection of the immediate past governor of Kaduna state Malam Nasir El-Rufa’i from the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) to the Social Democratic Party (SDP) is generating a lot of both positive and negative comments. El-Rufa’i is undoubtedly one of the forces that ensured the current President Bola Tinubu contested and “won” the 2023 presidential election. Mr El-Rufa’i along his colleagues governors even went to the court and challenged the policy of the administration they belonged that made it difficult for individuals to mobilized huge sums of money usually used to influence decision of voters. They did that because their principal Tinubu then had allegedly set aside billions of naira for that purpose.
With Tinubu as President, El-Rufa’i’s calculation was that he could be a Vice President or at least a senior cabinet member so that he could continue to exert his influence on our national life. But Tinubu is not such a nincompoop that could be easily deceived. We could all recall El-Rufa’i’s comments when late President Umaru Musa Yar’adua died in which he linked Ƴar’adua’s death to disagreement with him (El-Rufa’i). I am not an admirer of President Tinubu but I am impressed by the way he dealt a deadly blow to this tiny but dangerous El-Rufa’i in his effort to be part of his Renewed Hope cabinet. As the saying goes : There are many ways to kill a rat, Tinubu included name of El-Rufa’i in the list of the proposed ministers he sent to the Senate but instructed the red chamber, which is firmly under his control, not to clear him. We all know that if Tinubu wanted El-Rufa’i to become minister, no security report could stand on his way.
As expected, the Senate disqualified El-Rufa’i, an action that made him went berserk and suddenly turn to foe from a friend of Tinubu. El-Rufa’i is now portraying a picture of a Patriot that is doing everything possible to restore democracy and ensure good governance. The truth is that he is not. What he is publicly preaching is diametrically opposed to his inner motives. In fact, El-Rufa’i is one of the greatest calamities that befell northern Nigeria in particular and Nigeria in general. People of Zaria and southern Kaduna can rightly attest to this.
El-Rufa’i’s tenure as governor of Kaduna state witnessed the gravest violation of human rights, mass killing and destruction of residences of the poor as well those of his political adversaries. We are all living witnesses to the killing of over one thousand innocent lives of adherents of Shi’a by the military in Zaria which El-Rufa’i played a pivotal role. Many people including men, women and children alike were massacred in cold blood. Some were even sprayed with petrol and set ablaze while others were buried alive.Though repressive governments have a culture of concealing their acts of attrocities, but the crime was so heinous that could not be denied and his administration could not do otherwise but to admit that over three hundred people were killed and buried in mass grave. Hundreds of bereaved families are still living with anguish of losing their loved ones while the masses and his political adversaries like Senators Sulaiman Hunƙuyi and Shehu Sani whose houses were demolished are still helpless.
In his gallivanting in search of a platform to remain relevant, El-Rufa’i has now shifted his loyalty to the Social Democratic Party (SDP) hopefully to contest for President. He might be thinking that SDP, being the Party that MKO Abiola contested for President, will be sympathetic to the people of the Southwest to discard their son Tinubu and vote for him. If he is thinking along this way, I think he is in a serious hallucination. Rather than deposing Tinubu, El-Rufa’i’s decision to join the SDP will only enhance the chances of Tinubu winning the 2027 presidential election. If El-Rufa’i is serious about getting rid of Tinubu in 2027, he will not join SDP but go for the party that has a strong presence especially the one that came second in the 2023 presidential election. It is only when smaller parties come together and register a new party or at least melt into the biggest party among them that they can wrestle power from the APC.
With people like El-Rufa’i Nigeria and the north in particular is in a serious dilemma. These are people that can do anything to achieve their interests. Human life is nothing to them when it comes to their personal interests. They can main, kill and destroy to achieve their personal aggrandizement. With his bloody credentials, if not Nigeria is what it is, El-Rufa’i is not fit for even the office of a councilor. The reality now is that hundreds of El-Rufa’is in SDP cannot make the party win a single state out of the thirty six states and Abuja. The truth is that they can only succeed in destroying the chances of serious and capable contenders from the opposition.
