Is Nasir El-Rufai Paying The Price for His Perceived Betrayal?

As a keen observer of the Nigerian political landscape, I have been probing the political reasons why the former FCT Minister and Kaduna State Governor, Mallam Nasir El-Rufai, has remained in detention.

Beyond the obvious reason of his role as a major player in opposition strategy, Nasir has always come across as a progressive rebel. His record as minister and his commitment to the thorough urbanisation of the FCT set him apart as an excellent administrator.

Subsequently, he reintroduced himself as a bold and fearless political opposition leader during the Goodluck Jonathan administration. His criticism of President Jonathan’s policies was tactful and brazen, and it sometimes got him into trouble with government organs at the time.

As a member of the newly formed All Progressives Congress, El-Rufai made new friends who stood by him during the alleged persecution he faced as the Jonathan era drew to a close, and one person worth noting was Rt. Hon. Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi, then Governor of Rivers State. He himself had just made the switch from the nPDP alongside the likes of Saraki, Nyako and Kwankwaso.

As far back as 2014, from the outside, the friendship between the two men grew as the opposition battled its way forward. On one occasion, Gov. Amaechi drove El-Rufai to the DSS headquarters to answer a petition after a manhunt for the soon-to-be Kaduna State Governor began.

As time went on and the APC got elected, these men were said to be among the few with unhindered access to President Muhammadu Buhari. Reports say they influenced some of Buhari’s political appointments. There were also talks that the appointment of Hadiza Bala Usman as Managing Director of the Nigerian Ports Authority came as a favour to her friend, the then Governor of Kaduna State, through her nomination by Amaechi, who had by then become the Minister of Transportation.

Towards the end of the Buhari administration, it was confirmed that the APC would zone its Presidential ticket to the South. Whispers suggested that late President Buhari would handpick his successor. One name mentioned among the aspirants as a likely successor was Amaechi. He was seen as a friend of the North and had even been given a traditional title by the Emir of Daura, the very Emirate President Buhari hailed from.

However, Buhari declined to anoint a successor and asked everyone to make their case to the APC stakeholders who would vote at the party primaries. It was speculated that the relationship between Amaechi and Elrufai was no longer as cordial as it once was, but observers took it for granted that Elrufai would still support his friend because of their shared political ideology and personal history. In fact, when Amaechi visited the Kaduna Governor, he openly pledged his support for the then presidential aspirant. But over time, that changed.

Elrufai galvanised the Northern governors’ support for Bola Ahmed Tinubu. He was the fulcrum that held their bloc vote together for Asiwaju at the APC primaries, helping him win by a landslide, with Amaechi coming in a distant 2nd.

Some political commentators have postulated that Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu made the Governors several sweet deals they couldn’t refuse. Others say the Northern Governors based their support on religious lines and weren’t ready to see Amaechi, a Christian, become the party’s flag bearer. If you recall, politicians on the other side of the divide have accused the All Progressives Congress of being a muslim party, with El Rufai himself being at the centre of these accusations.

Residents of southern Kaduna who are predominantly Christian allege that the then Governor was biased in his administration of governance in the state. They claimed that the projects and development initiatives of his administration were domiciled in northern Kaduna, where the majority of the residents are muslim.

However, the question remains. If Elrufai had directed the support of the northern governors to his friend, Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi, would he be languishing in alleged political detention today?

I conclude with this popular saying: “some questions don’t have answers, they are meant to be lived”.

Cedric Ogwu is an observer of Nigeria’s political economy and can be reached via [email protected]