Recently, photos emerged on social media of former governor of Kaduna State, Malam Nasir El-Rufai and former President Muhammadu Buhari at the latter’s residence in Daura, Katsina State. Media Adviser to El-Rufai tagged the visit as an homage to Buhari by his principal.
The former governor and Buhari’s former spokesperson, Garba Shahu, also paid a familiarisation visit to the Katsina Government House, where he met Governor Dikko Umaru Radda.
Indeed, El-Rufai has resurfaced in the media space lately, having somewhat gone quiet after the Senate rejected his nomination for a ministerial appointment on the advice of Nigeria’s intelligence agency.
In a matter of days after the visit to Buhari, El-Rufai continued his media rounds by visiting former military head of state, Gen. Ibrahim Babangida in Minna.
Not done yet, El-Rufai intensified his charm offensive on Saturday, December 16, when he received the traditional chieftaincy title of Gbobaniyi of Ijebuland conferred on him by the Awujale of Ijebuland, Oba Sikiru Adetona.
Recall that the former governor also recently announced that his venture capital/private equity firm, Afri-Venture Capital Company Limited, would begin operations in 2024.
El-Rufai seems to be making frantic efforts to erase his status of a perceived unwanted fellow, following his ministerial rejection. And his newfound vigour lends credence to claims that the summary of his rejection is that of someone who is haunted by his past and who is dealing with people who are suspicious of what he is capable of in the future.
According to Premium Times, the former governor was rejected on “Allegations of human rights abuses, unguarded public utterances, and a purported flood of petitions are the issues advanced by the State Security Service (SSS) against the nomination of former Governor Nasir El-Rufai of Kaduna State.”
With his antecedent, many believe that those allegations are not far from the truth. Remember his famous “body bag” and “whoever kills a Fulani man” statements made on separate occasions and one would have a compendium of dangerous incitement and a threat to national security. These utterances and his not-so-pleasant human rights record have earned him petitions upon petitions at the International Criminal Court (ICC), making him perhaps the most popular Nigerian individual subject of petitions at The Hague.
He is also on record to have said: “Asiwaju got the ticket, and when he got it, we knew he would have no option but to pick a Muslim as his vice; if not, he would lose the election… What we are able to achieve in Kaduna, we’ve now achieved on the national level. There is no liar that can say he will do politics of Christianity and win the election. Peter Obi tried it but this is where he is now. We’ve brought an end to that. They’ve kept quiet. Ever since Asiwaju emerged, CAN has remained mute… If we do it again and again everything will be normal. To God, that was what we did.”
His former boss, former president Olusegun Obasanjo, in his book My Watch Volume 2, described El-Rufai as a liar. “A leader must know the character and ability of his subordinates. Character-wise, Nasir has not much going for him… My vivid recollection of him is his penchant for lying, for unfair embellishment of stories and his inability to sustain loyalty for long,” Obasanjo wrote.
In 2020, the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) withdrew its invitation to the former governor as a keynote speaker at its 60th Annual General Conference. The petitions that necessitated the withdrawal included handling of the security situation in Southern Kaduna, ruthless disposition towards dissenting voices and critics, careless and divisive public utterances, and blatant disregard for court orders and the rule of law.
Legal expert, Prof. Chidi Odinkalu compiled a 23-point list of victims of El-Rufai’s alleged human rights abuses in 2020, and the Southern Kaduna Peoples Union, in 2017, accused him of using hate speech to distort history over endless killings in the area during his tenure.
El-Rufai’s visit to Buhari particularly raised curiosity, considering the role he played in the runoff to the 2023 presidential election, when he not only publicly disagreed with Buhari on the choice of his successor but even attacked the former president, especially when the naira redesign policy was perceived to be targeted at President Bola Tinubu’s campaign success.
“In 2017, I requested the Federal Government to designate the emerging banditry as an insurgency and to unleash on bandits the full weight of the military. Sadly, this was not done until 2022, acting upon the declaration of the Federal High Court,” he also said.
In February, at the peak of the naira redesign saga, El-Rufai also said the order by Buhari on the deadline for old notes “is a disobedience to the Supreme Court Order.” He even asked residents of the state to continue using the old naira notes in defiance of Buhari’s order when the then-president gave a directive in a national broadcast that the N1,000 and N500 old naira notes were no longer legal tender.
Available media reports suggest that El-Rufai has never been a Buhari fan. In 2010, he advised the former president to retire, saying that those who seem to think that their failure to do their best for Nigeria when they had the chance qualifies them for a return to office.
So why has El-Rufai suddenly become a Buhari fan to the extent that he even paid him a visit in Daura now that the former president is no longer in power? Those who know the former governor well are suggesting that, in his typical deceptive manner, he only gravitated towards someone or a campaign when doing so would promote his interest. Recall that he did the same when he moved to President Tinubu’s camp when it became obvious where the APC’s ticket was heading.
The same pattern was demonstrated in 2018 when in another four-page leaked memo, he warned the same Buhari that there would be serious consequences if the then-senator representing Kaduna Central, Shehu Sani, should win a return ticket to the red chamber in 2019. The memo was titled ‘Forwarding of a compendium of Shehu Sani’s denigration of President Buhari, the APC and the Governor of Kaduna State’.
What is being suggested is that the former Kaduna State governor wants to inherit Buhari’s strong political base in the north to relaunch his political career, most probably in preparation for contesting for the highest position in the land. There is the suggestion that he wants to inherit Buhari’s 12 million northern grassroots support-base votes. Of course, it is well-documented that El-Rufai switches allegiance and loyalty as and when it suits him, and in politics, that could be seen as a betrayal by those he switches against.
But it is curious why Buhari and the so-called cabal who refused to trust him enough in the corridor of power he so coveted would want to do so now. Perhaps they understand too well that a leopard never changes its spots.
By Monsuru Arilesere