Mallam Nasir El-Rufai came into the public limelight in 1999 when
democracy returned back to the country after a sixteen year hiatus of military
misrule. The then President Olusegun Obasanjo made El-Rufai the
Director-General of the Bureau for Public Enterprises (BPE) which was saddled
with the gargantuan responsibility of disposing some of the assets hitherto
held by the government to private investors. It was as the Minister of the
Federal Capital Territory that his name became permanently etched in the minds
of many Nigerians as he had the ambition of restoring the original master plan
of the city.
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| *El-Rufai |
Many houses including those owned by prominent
Nigerians were bulldozed as the then diminutive minister spared no one and took
no prisoners. Some of his die-hard supporters pushed his name forward as a
possible successor to Chief Olusegun Obasanjo in 2007 after the alleged failure
of the latter’s third term bid. For some reasons best known to Baba Iyabo as
the former President is fondly called, he settled for the Late Umaru Musa
Yar’adua who was then governing Katsina state. El-Rufai went into political
winter for eight years after his former boss’s Presidency and he was hounded by
the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to give an account of his
eight-year stewardship especially as the minister. He went on to write his
memoir – ‘The Accidental Public Servant’ which was an interesting read
even though some critics accused him of hagiography.
He became the Governor of Kaduna state in 2015 after defecting to the All
Progressive Congress (APC) from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) where he was
one of the foundation members. Kaduna – the melting pot for many
northerners has been under siege by the Fulani herdsmen and bandits. Southern
Kaduna where the majority of Christians reside has been under severe attack
since 2011. Many indigenes of there have been mindlessly slaughtered and
hundreds of thousands displaced from their ancestral homes. The bone of
contention is about lands and the desire by the Fulani settlers to create
emirates there. One would have expected El- Rufai to act as the father of all
but instead his divisive and bigotry side has shown in the handling of the
crisis.
He went as far as accusing leaders of Southern Kaduna of masterminding
the killings so as to continue to get paid by the government alluding to an
allegation that the practice was popular before he came into office. Up till
date he has refused to visit that part of the state. The technical committee
for conference planning of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) decided to invite
El Rufai as a keynote speaker for their forthcoming conference. The conference
theme is “STEPPING FORWARD” and the
question is: “Who is a Nigerian? A Debate on National Identity” (26 -29
August 2020) with a special session focusing on the topic: “Am I a Nigerian – A Debate on National Identity, The
Indigeneship-Citizenship Conundrum.”
In the opinion of the
NBA he was well suited to speak on the subject matter as Kaduna is the hub of
many tribes and the two major religions of the country.
Some members kicked against his invitation
opining that he had no respect for the rule of law and that his statements with
regards to the crisis in his state were rather inflammatory and dismissed him
as a bigot. While the NBA may have their shortcomings especially with regards
to their last elections which saw one of the presidential contestants, Dele
Adesina SAN cry foul, I totally agree with them for rescinding their earlier
invitation to the diminutive Kaduna state governor. El Rufai has proven not to
be the father of all with regards to the way and manner he is handling the
crisis in Southern Kaduna.
His statements as earlier written above shows that he is petty and vindictive.
Don’t human lives matter? Are the indigenes of Southern Kaduna second class
citizens in their homes? Has he condemned the ploy by the Fulanis resident
there to subject the real owners of the land to eternal servitude and
suppression in their attempt to create an emirate there? Is he too big to visit
a part of the state that has been surreptitiously balkanized by frequent
pogroms? These are critical questions urgently begging for answers to which he
must give reasonable answers too. The NBA is a highly respected professional
body and shouldn’t be the platform for a wanna be ‘intellectual’ in the person
of El Rufai to speak effusively on a topic that he has no genuine intentions of
implementing in his base.
Charity should indeed begin at home. He shouldn’t
just talk the talk; he should also walk the talk as action speaks louder than
words, goes the age-long aphorism. The apology to El Rufai by the outgoing NBA
President Paul Usoro SAN is rather unfortunate as it casts a gargantuan slur on
the personality of the Bar’s numero uno helmsman. Why couldn’t Usoro stand by
the decision of the NBA? What was the sense in his eating his words and going
back to his vomit? It’s really tragic for a learned man to behave like a school
lad who has been reprimanded by his teacher for misconduct. The NBA’s platform
– a veritable tool for social change shouldn’t be graced by individuals who
have disregard for the sanctity of human lives and peaceful coexistence with
people of other tribes or even nationalities.
The new slogan globally is that of diversity and inclusiveness which has no
place for bigots and small minded people. The beauty of the United States is
that it is a land peopled by citizens and nationals of divergent tribes, creed
and religion. Agreed, the history of both Nigeria and the US is different in
the sense that in the latter, there was the voluntary amalgamation of people
who left their former places of abode and thronged in droves to the New World;
that of Nigeria was through the use of force in the 1914 amalgamation by Lord
Frederick Lugard.
It is never too late to still live in peace as
we must permanently exorcize the ghost of Lugard which still haunts us till
this day. I hope that the incoming leadership of Olumide Akpata whose mandate
was made possible by many younger lawyers upholds El Rufai’s disqualification
so as not to send the wrong signal to the rest of Nigerians that bigotry pays.
It is high time that Nigerians ‘take it back’ apologies to the campaign slogan
by Citizens journalist, Omoyele Sowore. We shouldn’t create platforms for
divisive elements to spew out gibberish in the name of freedom of speech and
expression. We recall that the 1994 Rwandan genocide which consumed millions of
its citizens in just three months was as a result of hate speech accentuated
through the power of the radio by both Hutu and Tutsi leaders. Well done NBA
for a stitch in time saves nine!
*Ademiluyi is a commentator on public issues
*Ademiluyi is a commentator on public issues
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