Between El-Rufai and Buhari’s Kitchen Cabinet
Francis Abayomi
It would amount to glaring exhibition of naivety to misconstrue as altruistic the publicized memo addressed to President Buhari by Governor Nasir El-Rufai of Kaduna State. Beyond eliciting the usual humour of the motor-parks, there should be nothing surprising or shocking about the memo. Politics is not just about the glamours that go with politicking; trills of the soap-box or frills of the ballot-box. Mind games are also weapons for political bargaining and for sustaining political relevance. Because all posturing are bound for selfish ends, there is the need for robust engagement to appreciate the causes and effects which underbelly actions and actions of political elite.
More often than not, deception and plain hypocrisy assume popular approbation in the political space at the expense of patriotic national discourse. Precisely why El-Rufai’s memo should be seen, for all intents and purpose, in the mould of the politics it underscores. However, this is not in any way implying that Mallam El-Rufai has not made a mark in politics and public service. Indeed, it is to his credit that as Minister of Federal Capital Territory, El-Rufai’s passion for service was in sharp contrast to what his diminutive stature portrays. What is however at issue is the danger constituted by sheer obduracy of opportunistic political class. The concern is about the right doses of politics that confers legitimacy rather than an excess of it that undermines statesmanship.
Politics in our clime may have been reduced to troubling jigsaw that leaves the unsuspecting more puzzled. Nevertheless, Nigerians by now should be getting used to the temperament of our politicians in their desperation for power. And for an accidental public-servant-politician like El-Rufai, the game en route the next political destination may have begun much earlier than imagined. Coming at the heels of President Buhari’s surprising return from the ‘land of the dead’ amidst mounting conspiratorial theories at the presidency for which fingers are pointed in the direction of elements within a supposed kitchen cabinet, Governor El-Rufai recent political fray was no doubt deviously machinated and delivered.
El-Rufai is well known for his ambition to occupy the prime seat in Aso Rock since the days of Obasanjo when he featured as a power-broker within the economic team that wielded influence akin to that of a kitchen cabinet. It is recalled how, in concert with other hawks of power, a deeply orchestrated scheming almost culminated in a succession bid with him most likely to emerge as president before fate decided otherwise in favour of late Umaru Yar’Adua. It is therefore not unlikely that the reigning hawks in Aso Rock constitute threats to his ambition ahead of 2019. Truth however is that between El-Rufai and Buhari’s Kitchen Cabinet, there are things beyond the immediate understanding of the public and for which personal political interests may have entrenched.
If El-Rufai were not a sitting governor motivated by immediate ambition, his open memo expressing concerns over policies and whatever goes on in Buhari’s kitchen cabinet would probably have carried much heavier weight. Apart from reechoing the frustration that has become too obvious to Nigerians, the other issue El-Rifai’s memo sought to exploit to advantage is the concern over the enormous power which some elements around President Buhari within and outside the seat of power in Aso Rock are currently wielding. It would then appear the activities of these powerful elements in the kitchen cabinet are inimical to personal ambition of some individuals in APC giving that President Buhari has become undoubtedly unsuitable to run in 2019.
It is recalled that it was the self-effacing first lady; Aisha Buhari that braced the odd in an unusual interview with the BBC when she let the bag out of the cat (or the cat out of the bag as more often said). And since then, Nigerians; particularly the political elite within and outside the ruling party including the vociferous political watchdogs in the civil space have not taking a rest from hauling stones at these real or imaginary members of Buhari’s kitchen cabinet. But indeed, what really is it about a kitchen cabinet that has become so unusual this time around? Is El-Rufai also implying that actions or inactions of these sectional elements contributed to the lawlessness and mindless killings in Southern Kaduna? It would be interesting to about read about El-Rufai’s excuses for allowing crisis degenerated to such harrowing magnitude under his watch.
Obviously, it would have amounted to no big deal if El-Rufai had not latched onto refrain about the ‘powerful men’ around the president. For a man whose lackluster response to the lingering crisis in Southern Kaduna had elicited so much public disapproval on account of sectional sentiments and inactions, El-Rufai’s hypocrisy could just be assuming a new height in political sophistry. But certainly, his concerns could not be about what bothers the rest of us Nigerians, if we consider that as chief executive in Kaduna State, he has betrayed temperament and confidence of leadership. El-rufai is evidently more recalcitrant and sectional than the people he has upbraided so scathingly.
First published by Sunday Independent 26th March, 2017
