When in August 2023, the Senate refused to confirm the nomination of former Kaduna State Governor Nasir El-Rufai as minister by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, different reasons were adduced by different political analysts and pundits to explain the decision of the upper legislative chamber.
Some blamed El-Rufai’s non-clearance on the National Security Adviser (NSA) Nuhu Ribadu, alleging that the former chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) talked the president out of bringing the former Kaduna on governor. They also alleged that El-Rufai and Ribadu, who were influential members of the Obasanjo administration, fell out and their relationship soured.
Others said it was El-Rufai himself that made the decision to withdraw his nomination, having felt slighted by the Senate which based its decision on security-related petitions.
There were also those who believed that El-Rufai did not deserve the treatment meted to him by both the Senate and the president, arguing that the red chamber would still have cleared El-Rufai if Tinubu had insisted on his nomination, the so-called security-related petitions notwithstanding.
Indeed, El-Rufai was very vocal ahead of the 2023 elections where he teamed up with some colleague-governors at the time to frustrate a purported move by some powerful individuals in the presidency for a northerner [then Senate president Ahmad Lawan] to fly the flag of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) in the election.
In an opinion piece published in August 2023, Ibraheem Musa, who served as El-Rufai’s Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, narrated how the former governor, after campaigning vigorously for Asiwaju, who eventually won the 2023 presidential election, leading Tinubu to send emissaries to El-Rufai, to firm up his commitment to work with him.
“Specifically, the president-elect promised El-Rufai, in no uncertain terms, the new ministry of energy. Thereafter, El-Rufai mobilised his team and produced a blueprint that wowed Tinubu, about three weeks before his ministerial nomination,” Musa wrote. He however noted that after the Senate’s refusal to confirm him as minister and Tinubu’s ‘evasive’ actions, El-Rufai “turned his back on the ministerial nomination, gone back to school, to learn, unlearn and relearn, to someday serve the public in another realm.”
Tellingly, El-Rufai has sparked a deluge of speculations about 2027 elections, with many citing his recent activities, particularly his visits to former national leaders and even some members of the APC. Dateline Nigeria reports that between December 2023 and March 2024, El-Rufai has visited former President Muhammadu Buhari in Daura, Katsina State, former Military President Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida in Minna, Niger State and former President Olusegun Obasanjo in Abeokuta, Ogun State.
Also recently, the former Kaduna State governor had visited former Minister of Aviation Chief Femi Fani-Kayode and former Minister of Communications and Digital Economy Prof Isa Ali Pantami. He also hosted the National Security Adviser (NSA) Nuhu Ribadu, former presidential adviser Kashim Imam, chairman of the Social Democratic Party (SDP) Shehu Gabam, among others, to iftar (breaking of fast) in his Abuja abode.
Perhaps the visit that has been eliciting reactions is the one he paid to the National Secretariat of the opposition SDP where he met with the National Chairman of the party Alhaji Shehu Gabam and other party leaders.
Visits have nothing to do with politics – Aide
In a statement he issued recently, the media adviser to the former Kaduna State governor, Muyiwa Adekeye, said he considered the most recent speculations about Malam Nasir El-Rufai as reflecting an unhealthy obsession with politics, adding that El-Rufai and the people he visited “have personal histories and relationships that predate political affiliations. It cannot be a hallmark of civilisation to have friends from within only your political party.”
Adekeye said further that though El-Rufai is a senior member of the APC, one of the signatories to its merger documents, and a significant contributor to the party’s demonstrated viability, these contributions do not require that he treats friends as anathema on account of politics or maintains an antiseptic distance from them.
Specifically speaking on the visit to the SDP secretariat, Adekeye said “El-Rufai hosted some friends to Iftar on Tuesday, 19 March 2024. NSA Nuhu Ribadu was at the Iftar with a senior APC figure like Alh. Kashim Imam. SDP National Chairman Shehu Musa Gabam was among the friends who partook in the Iftar. Gabam was not accused of considering crossing over to the APC on account of that. When Malam Nasir El-Rufai visited Gabam the next day, he was merely returning a visit to a friend who happens to be SDP chairman.”
On the visit to former presidents late in 2023, Adekeye said it was to “explain his Nigerian governance study book project covering each of their tenures, the speculators said it was about politics! That is why it is sometimes necessary to clarify matters lest the unwary be taken in.”
The divergent reactions, notwithstanding, El-Rufai has continued his visit. The most recent is the one he paid to Senator Abdul Ningi (PDP, Bauchi Central), who is serving a three-month suspension by the Senate over his budget padding allegations.
2027: Peter Obi, El-Rufai planning to join SDP – Bwala
Meanwhile, a former spokesman of the defunct Atiku-Okowa Presidential Campaign Council, Daniel Bwala, has alleged that the 2023 presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP) Peter Obi is plotting to unite with El-Rufai in the SDP, adding that Obi’s move followed the decision of the Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC) to take over the leadership of LP from Julius Abure.
Commenting on X, formerly Twitter, Bwala wrote: “BREAKING-Peter Obi allegedly planning to unite with El-Rufai in Social Democratic Party as Nigerian Labour Congress set to take ownership and custody of their political party, the Labour Party. Recall that there was a judgment of the court that states that Nigeria Labour Congress owns Labour Party. NLC is now prepared to take custody of that party. Twist and turns in the coming days. But all that will not give sleepless nights to President Bola Tinubu who himself has his magic wands to wield.”
Adekeye has also dismissed Bwala’s allegation by simply saying “Denizen of a fact-free realm!”
