El Rufai: the devil you would dread never to encounter, yet the angel you would deeply love to embrace. A petit petrel; a pious pop: a plain-dealing villain; a gutsy guy. A perceptive pugilist; a perilous pest. An alleged non-conformist; yet a revolutionary reformist. A man of un-infinitesimal antics; a man of real politicking. Yes! That is the man we call El Rufai.
El Rufai, one man, but multifaceted dispositions. He carved some for himself. Others were carved by others. Sometimes, he’s already guilty before he even commits an offence. To some, he’s an incorrigible ethno-religious bigot. An incurable particularist. Other people see him as a radical progressive. To some, he is into reactionary politics – a reactionary democrat. To others, El Rufai is a progressive democrat. Only one man, but multifaceted dispositions. He must be a special breed of some sort: an enigma!
And so, the Senate had sinisterly declined to confirm the nomination of former Kaduna State Governor, Nasir El Rufai, for ‘security reason’. The issue has become a cause célèbre. To some, El Rufai should already be a social outcast even before his ministerial nomination. To others, he is a terrible national disaster. To some again, he is potential gunpowder. To others, He was already an unqualified man before he was even was nominated. But Tinubu loves him to be in his cabinet; however, Tinubu’s subjects vehemently object to his nomination. A moment of national paradox!
But Tinubu truly knows better. That’s why he ‘begged’ El Rufai to be part of his government. Tinubu knows that El Rufai is not only qualified, but also result oriented. And as a human being with emotional vulnerability, El Rufai must have made some contemptuous, uncomplimentary and inflammatory remarks about people, their culture and even his own home country, Nigeria, but all those cannot take away the fact that El Rufai is a progressive politician with the Midas touch. His presence was felt at the FCT. We can see the high level of infrastructural development in Kaduna State, too. But emotions are high because of El Rufai’s erstwhile carelessness, and rightly so! But, competence must not be given the backseat!
When emotionalism overrides rationalism, what you always get is the pronouncement of unsound judgment. Please, I am not making atonement for El Rufai’s sins, but it’s good we consider competence over sentiment. Now that the country is on the edge of a precipice, we need competent people that can salvage the reputation of this country, and El Rufai, most assuredly, is perfectly competent.
From 2003-2007, as the FCT minister, he recorded remarkable achievements. From 2015-2023, he did well in terms of infrastructural and human development. El Rufai’s ability is incontestable, and on that basis, it’s advisable we choose competence over sentiment in this critical condition. The country currently needs the agility of an El Rufai, not the barbarity of a Yahaya Bello nor the laxity of an Ortom!
Who, among the crop of contemporary Nigerian politician, is spotless? Even the current Nigerian President, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, once made an off-the-cuff, nasty remark that he didn’t believe in ‘one Nigeria’. Obasanjo is not a saint. Buhari was recalcitrantly divisive. And most recently, Bosun Tijani, who once tweeted ‘out of anger’ was ‘pardoned’ on the basis of ‘youthful exuberance’. So can’t El Rufai also be pardoned on the grounds of ‘elderly senility’? Why should one be pardoned and the other be padlocked. Is Bosun even more competent? Obviously, El Rufai is a relevant ministerial material, but emotions are high. And when emotions are unreasonably high, people tend to lose an inestimable jewel. And, if, for instance, El Rufai is not cleared, and he loses this ministerial post, the consequences on both Tinubu and the APC will be devastatingly deleterious. For now, I’m conditioned not to tell you the consequences of not giving the ministerial position to El Rufai.
And so, in my own unconventional nature, I will choose an El Rufai over an Akpabio, Metawalle, Bello, Buhari, Ortom, Ademola, Ganduje, Obaseki, Obi, Atiku, etc. You can either adore or abhor El Rufai’s audacity, and, whichever way, El Rufai will always be El Rufai. And as William Shakespeare would say, It’s better to be a ‘plain-dealing villain’ than to be a ‘honest-flattering man’. And so, I ask, standing on Shakespeare’s axiomatic wing, isn’t it better to be a progressive heretic than to be a honest-corrupt, honest-flattering thief?
– Sule Abubakar Lucky Mark
Writer and Sociologist.
Email: suleabubakarmark1111@gmail.com
