By Bala Ibrahim
An unclean drama is beginning to unfold in Kaduna state and my instincts are telling me that it could come with extremely bad, awful, or even horrible consequences politically for the governor in particular, and the state in general. Kaduna is the political nerve centre of northern Nigeria, because of it’s centrality and the ease of accessibility to the rest of the region. So, whatever happens to Kaduna, is certain to have effects on the rest of the north, especially on matters that have bearings with politics. Few days ago, pursuant to the assignment given to it, undoubtedly by the new government of His Excellency Uba Sani, the Kaduna state House of Assembly has submitted a report, indicting the former Governor of the state, Mallam Nasiru El-Rufai of abuse of office, awarding contracts without due process, diverting public funds, money laundering, and excessive borrowing which left the state, according to them, heavily indebted.
The report recommended that El-Rufai be further investigated by security operatives and anti-graft agencies. As I was reading the report, my mind was running back and forth, on the simple meaning of the word treachery, and how it relates to the betrayal of trust. Yes, betrayal of trust by none but my friend, His Excellency, Sen. Uba Sani. If I say Mallam Nasiru El-Rufai is my friend, perhaps I am exaggerating my ego, because he was my senior in the University and my contacts with him have been mostly indirectly. But same cannot be said of my relationship with Sen. Uba Sani, who addresses me mostly, as my brother. I don’t want to go into the details of the El-Rufai/Uba closeness, including what His Excellency Sen.Uba Sani told me himself, but anyone who read the book, Honour Amongst Thieves, by the famous writer Jeffrey Archer, would have reason to be reminiscent of the meaning of callousness.
An overview of the book, Honour Amongst Thieves, touched on how the Clinton Administration in the United state was confronted by a sinister plot, masterminded thousands of miles away in Baghdad, allegedly by late Saddam Hussein of Iraq. Archer said, by using $100 million as bait and spinning a deadly web of corruption, forgery, and terror, Saddam Hussein seeks to embarrass the U.S. with the ultimate revenge: to steal a treasured historical document and then destroy it before the world’s media. Two agents were made to stand in the way of his nearly flawless plan: Scott Bradley, a rising star in the CIA who was desperate to prove his patriotism, and Hannah Kopec. The aim was simply to embarrass Clinton. However, what happened thereafter, has now become a lesson for those engaged in the business of treachery. I hope, my friend, His Excellency Sen. Uba Sani and the members of his rubber stamp House of Assembly would learn from that.
The transformation Kaduna state received under Mallam Nasiru El-Rufai is beyond description. All the three senatorial districts have received an uncommon uplifting, that is simply extraordinary. Indeed extraordinary. While on official visit to Kaduna state, former President Muhammadu Buhari said he was mesmerized by the performance of El-Rufai: “If you had not been in Kaduna for sometime now, surely you would miss your road home just like me. El-Rufai has really changed the face of this state. “I relocated to Kaduna after serving my jail term in the 1980s from Daura. I cannot find my way home with the current development”-PMB.
Similarly, in a write up by Emmanuel Ado, who juxtaposed the performance of El-Rufai and that of other governors in Nigeria, he had this to say, “Nasir el-Rufai is an exception. He is unlike many of his colleagues, who have enjoyed the perks of the office, but not the work. El-Rufai, can’t in any way, be accused of failing to provide leadership, rather he has worked extremely over-hard to transform Kaduna state. And the toll of the office and the sacrifices are clearly written all over him. Hadiza, his wife, in a tweet jokingly disowned him because of the physical wear and tear of governing Kaduna state on him. The consolation for El-Rufai is certainly the success of the various reforms, the myriad of projects, and the affection of the common people, concrete evidence that indeed he gave the job his all in the last seven years, which has led to the birth of a new Kaduna state. El-Rufai inherited a dysfunctional Kaduna state due to years of “minimum routine” governance. Some previous administrations, military and civilian, are irresponsibly guilty of gross failure to provide the state with purposeful and decisive leadership. El-Rufai, on assuming office, had no option but to administer the very painful but difficult decisions so as to improve the quality of life of the Kaduna people. Central to El-Rufai’s politics are the people. From the onset, he knew these decisions weren’t going to be popular, but being a leader, he trudged on knowing history will positively judge him”.
It is ironic that despite the avalanche of evidences to support El-Rufai’s excellent performance in Kaduna state, including the comments made by Uba Sani in the past, about the doggedness and dexterity of El-Rufai, the same Uba Sani, in cohort with some members of his lackey House of Assembly, are trying to tamper with the trajectory of history, by erroneously embarking on a mission to embarrass El-Rufai. It may work in the short run. But I can assure them that it would boomerang in the long run, because the law of karma is real, and it says, “All actions have consequences, which will affect the doer of the action at some future time”.