ALL is not well between Vice
President Yemi Osinbajo and the man widely referred to as the
“unofficial vice president”, Mallam Nasir el Rufai, the governor of
Kaduna State. Proof: after a meeting of the National Economic Council
(NEC) held on 17th September, 2015, el Rufai showed up in Osinbajo’s
office and both took a photograph, all smiles; and splashed them all
over the internet. Purpose: to debunk the “rumours” making the rounds
that they had exchanged insults. To confirm the story further, a meeting
of the All Progressives Congress (APC) National Working Committee (NWC)
a couple of days ago tabled as an item for discussion/resolution the
“face-off” between Osinbajo and el Rufai.
El
Rufai has been throwing his weight around since Buhari emerged as
President of Nigeria. He is widely reputed to have been behind the
double shuffle we saw on the last day of Professor Attahiru Jega as the
Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
Remember, Jega at the expiration of his tenure, had handed over to
Alhaji Ahmed Wali as the Acting National Chairman. Barely six hours
after that a letter from President Buhari ordered Wali to hand over to
Hajiya Amina Zakari, a perceived close relation, to act as National
Chairman. This was in total contravention of the law; an illegality that
subsists till today when Zakari is preparing to conduct the Bayelsa and
Kogi State governorship elections. Fingers pointed to el Rufai for
carrying out the “coup” which is liable to compromise the independence
of the INEC. It could feather Buhari and his APC’s political nest and
compromise the integrity of our future elections.
El Rufai is also believed to be the brain behind the appointment of
Mallam Abba Kyari as the Chief of Staff to the President. He also
reportedly got the founder of the #Bringback Our Girls campaigners (one
of the outfits used to hound former President Goodluck Jonathan out of
power), Hadiza Bala Usman a seat on Buhari’s Advisory Committee on
Anti-Corruption. There is hardly any trip Buhari considers important
that el Rufai does not abandon his governorship job in Kaduna to
accompany him to. And there is virtually no important meeting that
Buhari convenes that el Rufai does not attend as a close confidant and
adviser. El Rufai is having a time of his life as the younger Northern
brain that Buhari draws from to rule Nigeria.
This is not the first time he is enjoying this run of power in Aso
Villa. Remember his days with former President Olusegun Obasanjo? He
came into the Obasanjo government through the good graces of former Vice
President Atiku Abubakar, who made him the Director General of the
Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE). But when the power struggle between
Obasanjo and Atiku turned nasty and no-holds-barred, el Rufai nipped
over to Obasanjo. His influence rapidly grew, and the pioneer Chairman
of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Nuhu Ribadu,
once described him as ‘the de facto No. 2 official” in the Obasanjo
presidency.
In turn, el Rufai disclosed that Ribadu would be appointed Minister
of Power when Obasanjo’s handpicked successor, Governor Umaru Yar’ Adua,
won the presidential election in 2007. Incidentally, when Yar’ Adua
assumed office, el Rufai fled to Boston/Baltimore in America while
Ribadu went into self-exile in the UK. They both returned under our
dovish former President Jonathan. But while Ribadu found his place in
that regime, el Rufai, after being ignored by Jonathan for “too long”,
joined the Arewa army for the return of power to the North by all means
as a propagandist. El Rufai became a foot soldier for Buhari when the
latter broke his resolve not to run for election again and started the
journey with Bola Tinubu toward the birth of the now ruling APC.
If the constitution and the political behaviour of Nigerians had
allowed it, Buhari could have preferred to have a Northern Muslim as his
vice president, just as he did when he and the late Major General Tunde
Idiagbon, a fellow Fulani Muslim, paired for head of state and deputy
in 1984. But for political expediency and to brighten his electoral
chances, Prof. Osinbajo, a Christian cleric, was ‘foisted” on him. I
remember the day Osinbajo was unveiled as Buhari’s VP late in 2014. He
said he was “proud” to be Buhari’s running mate.
He must have since discovered that he was merely a “burden of
necessity”. On June 5th, 2015, barely a week after he took oath as Vice
President, Osinbajo was reportedly barred from attending a national
security meeting where the anti-Boko Haram strategy was discussed. He
was ignominiously referred to by newly-installed Senate President, Dr.
Bukola Saraki as “a mere commissioner”. And when he went to Aso Villa
Chapel to worship, he found it under lock and key! It was only the media
uproar which this generated that got it reluctantly opened for him to
worship in.
The latest humiliation of Osinbajo came at a recent meeting presided
over by Buhari. El Rufai, still being true to himself, reportedly used
“rude” words on Osinbajo, who, in annoyance, told him off and walked out
of the meeting. We hope the APC will be able to mend the fence between
the elected Vice President and the kitchen cabinet “vice president”, one
of Buhari’s “long suffering disciples”.
Down memory lane: IBB Boys disrespected Commodore
Ebitu Ukiwe as Babangida’s No. 2 in 1986 and the Abiriba-born sea
warrior resigned honourably from government. Al Mustapha and Abacha’s
Boys humiliated General Sani Abacha’s Deputy, Lt Gen Oladipo Diya in
1998 when he was condemned to death for coup plotting. The Katsina “Yar’
Adua cabal” trampled former Vice President Jonathan underfoot and we
had to invoke a “doctrine of necessity” to promote him to President when
Yar’ Adua died in 2010. The French say: déjà vu: Nigerians say: nor bi
today.
But the only Northern Vice Presidents – Atiku and Namadi Sambo –
enjoyed dignified tenures of office without harassment by Southern
“underlings”. Why? Answer that.
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