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“If elRufai were President of Nigeria, what would he do?”

By on August 9, 2012

Nasir elRufai

Every time Nasir el-Rufai opens his mouth, to be frank, I get a bit irritated. I’m sure I am not alone in this feeling of repulsion, after all, el-Rufai is there on public record for being one of the leading civil servants under Obasanjo that misappropriated his power for the betterment of his family and cronies. Yet he would have many believe he is a saint. And whilst he has pulled together a large fan base by courting needless sympathy for his travails under Yar’adua and admiration for his public criticisms of the Jonathan administration, he has not done so on merit.

The only reason a flock of mindless Nigerian sheep gather behind el-Rufai is due to their collective disdain for Jonathan and due to their selective amnesia on who the man actually is.

One cannot imagine my joy as I read Doyin Okupe’s statement on el-Rufai this morning. The newly appointed Senior Special Assistant to the President on Public Affairs had a lot of intelligent things to ask Nasir or Nasiru or @elrufai or whatever he calls himself.

For the purpose of thoroughness, lets visit Mr. Okupe’s entire remarks. He said, “El-Rufai is my younger brother. I have so much respect for him. But politics is more or less derailing or deranging him. Everybody knows that insurgency is a very difficult national problem. It is not anything peculiar to Nigeria. No responsible citizen of any of those countries affected by insurgency before called on their Presidents to resign.

“When he talks about intelligence, there is no better security in any country than by the people of the country. It is communal security that will help government and security agencies to root out insurgency. If people shielded insurgents, they make the works of security agencies more difficult.

“Can President Goodluck Jonathan be in Borno and everywhere at the same time? I believe that people just want to play politics. All what you are hearing is just the manipulation of the present situation to suit their political purposes.

“I am sure that my brother, el-Rufai is hopeful to be a presidential candidate of one of the parties very soon. What I will expect him to do with the level of intellect, intelligence and the resource that has been given to his own personal education is to come out with some reasonable plans, some suggestions, and not just criticising government for criticism’s sake.

“If el-Rufai were President of Nigeria, what would he do? He should say that. Or is he keeping that until when he becomes the President by which time the whole country would have been wiped off? When tragedy befalls a country, responsible men and women of that country forget partisanship and rally round their nation and they try their best to help existing government to tackle that. Once that is over, they go back to politics. This is not time for politics.

“Every man or woman who politicises this issue of Boko Haram, people should disregard and discard whatever information they hear from them. They are not serious-minded people.”

Okupe in those few sentences has thoroughly addressed the issue of political parasites like elRufai. Critics who proffer no solution to our country’s deep challenges and run to social media to cry wolf whenever they simply sight SSS operatives at the airport.

Well, as long as patriotic, well-meaning Nigerians are alive, people like elRufai will never become president of this country, unless he was to come back reincarnated when everybody would have forgotten that he is no Saint compared to the likes of Jonathan.

However lets just wildly imagine for a second that such a political jobber was President, what would he offer? Why doesn’t Mr. Elrufai just tell us by himself.

I am dead certain he is going to read this particular article. I always have toruble reading his, maybe because of my general disdain for the fellow.

No matter the case, he seems to always pick holes in State budgets and say what is wrong with them. Well let him proffer solutions to the Boko Haram menace.

Many Nigerians suspect Boko Haram is just an operation sponsored by a bunch of aggrieved old cargo politicians upset that a Southern Christian is ruling over the Nation.

What is elRufai’s take on this suspicion? Was he asleep when Northern ‘elders‘ like Ciroma vowed to make Nigeria ungovernable for GEJ should he win the election?

Was he asleep when successive Northern leaders failed to provide basic amenities and services for their people, and contributed to the decline and the socio-economic misfortunes of the North?

Where was he when virtually all the Northern governors under Obasanjo were looting their treasuries dry and contributing to the poverty and resentment that fuel the recruitment drive of the Boko Haram sponsors?

Personally I think if elRufai was president, he wouldn’t have any solutions and that is why he cannot proffer any now.

Absolute power corrupts absolutely and I think elRufai would be drunk from power if he was President.

After all, simply coming out of Zaria with a 1st class result, ending up as a minister, and having tens of thousands of followers on Twitter has caused him to have delusions of grandeur.

13 Comments

  1. snare

    August 9, 2012 at 9:03 am

    Yes! That also goes to all the statesmen and leaders in Nigeria. If you can’t provide possible solution to the problems Nigeria is facing, better shot up and stop criticizing the Government because if you can’t strive to provide solution as a patriotic Nigerian, you are as good as the government you call a failure. We need solution not criticism…

  2. Intouch

    August 9, 2012 at 9:18 am

    Okupe really deserve this job. El Rufai and his cohort are only taking advantage of people with low IQ, like themselves.

  3. Juvefan

    August 9, 2012 at 10:23 am

    I just had to unfollow the man a long time ago…It’s very obvious his playing politics on twitter and brain washing people

  4. Mine

    August 9, 2012 at 11:29 am

    At last, this looks more like it. El Rufai is a wounded loser that seems to be totally confused on what next to do with his life. Thanks for this jor.

  5. @ifydechu

    August 9, 2012 at 12:00 pm

    ElRufia is an opportunist who among other created BH for cheap publicity. When he tweets is all about negativity, so I don’t listen to people like not to be infected. Ogounmasi take notem

  6. Auwal

    August 9, 2012 at 10:25 pm

    Doyin Okupe so it’s now your turn eh? Ask Abati!!For your information El-Rufai would have followers, sympathisers or what ever you may call them even in his grave. At least he is not clueless. We have seen his own administrative strategy he doesn’t make noise only. He is at least more responsible than majority of the present calibre of Nigerian politicians.

  7. F!@#$K Rasheed.

    August 10, 2012 at 8:12 am

    The writer of this article is nothing short of a retard. El Rufai is declared political opposition and a card carrying member of an opposition party. The job of opposition parties are to criticize government policies and portray government failures so that government is mindful of its actions. Fortunately for El Rufai, criticizing this government is is like shooting fish in a barrel. A clueless president, a corrupt and kleptocratic administration, thieving ruling party and a compliant and useless press. What this idiotic writer doesn’t know cannot hurt him. Rasheediot.

  8. Ohgussssh!

    August 10, 2012 at 10:28 am

    Hello! So everyone should stand and praise GEJ for being lame? Please stop writing nonsense. El Rufai served well. He was a better administrator than many of them in office now.

  9. kenedy

    August 11, 2012 at 7:48 am

    El Rufai, is a retard..he lost out in the political machination and now sees twitter as an avenue to criticise govt. if he wants to criticise let it be a constructive criticism not destructive

  10. bamcreation

    August 11, 2012 at 4:55 pm

    Uncle Doyin is back again with his falsehood: “While people like Doyin may argue, in their usual cliché, that the problems of Nigeria were not created by Dr Goodluck Ebele Azikiwe Jonathan, we can also indict him for selling us the dummy that he had the capacity to give fresh air to Nigerians. A man should never promise what he does not possess. Only last year Dr Jonathan criss-crossed Nigeria in a marathon campaign and assured Nigerians of heavens and the earth if voted into power. Dr Jonathan’s spin doctors did their utmost best to hoodwink Nigerians into believing that the man had the magic wand to solve all our problems and many citizens swallowed their well-decorated hyperbole hook line and sinker”.

  11. adamu haruna

    August 12, 2012 at 1:03 pm

    If some one at the front seat can’t provide solutions to his people’s problem. Please tell him to give way to those that are ready

  12. Victor Aiyekoto

    August 12, 2012 at 9:59 pm

    Welcome Dr Okupe. Dr. Okupe is from a pedigree in Yoruba land that cannot be rubbished. My main concern is why is he not with the people but rather chose to be with a man who is busy committing all forms of atrocities in the name of governance. How come he is not bothered about the level of unemployment in the country. Me think the Boko Haram thing is solvable if the government is able to tackle some level of unemployment in the country. Dr. Jonathan is clueless about what it takes to be president. He should first govern his homestead which he seems not to be capable of doing; considering the excesses of his wife that he cannot control. I pray that Nigeria, a great country, will survive the onslaught being unleashed by the level of corruption that is prominent with Mr Jonathan’s administration. Let me say it here loud and clear, Nigerians including myself VOTED for him believing that with his level of education that he will stand out. Only for him to get to the seat of power and become overwhelmed with the amount of money that he has never seen before. And then it is all grab, grab and grab. God dey! It is well. Victor

  13. VR46

    August 13, 2012 at 11:06 am

    Your article is based on personal grudges you are holding against El-Rufai. Every mentally stable Nigerian knows that Jonathan is a failure. Talking about criticism, what happened to the freedom of speech???