A former Minister of the Federal Capital
Territory, Mallam Nasir el-Rufai, has described President Goodluck
Jonathan as a drowning President, who distorts facts.
El-Rufai, in a statement on Wednesday,
insisted that Jonathan had resorted to ethnic and religious politics to
score some political points.
The President’s spokesman, Dr. Reuben
Abati, on Sunday described el-Rufai as “a serial liar” while responding
to an interview the former minister granted Liberty FM, Kaduna, on Saturday.
El-Rufai, in the interview, said Jonathan was playing religious and ethnic politics.
The former minister, who, on Wednesday,
insisted that Jonathan was playing the ethnic game, noted that the
Presidency had not addressed issues he raised on Saturday.
He said, “It may interest the President
to know that Nigerians are much wiser now and will not be deceived by
the antics of a drowning president and his desperate aides.”
El-Rufai, for instance, said Jonathan
favoured his home state, Bayelsa in federal appointments, citing a
report by the Governance and Sustainable Initiatives Limited, entitled
‘Analysis and Lessons of the Current Geopolitical Distribution of
Federal Appointments’, to support his claim.
He said, “The Jonathan administration is
said to have favoured his home state of Bayelsa 200 per cent times more
than the next states with the highest federal representation – Delta,
Edo and Anambra.
“If Jonathan is not playing the ethnic
card, can he possibly explain to Nigerians why Bayelsa, which has the
smallest population in Nigeria and the fewest number of local government
areas, has more than double the number of federal appointees measured
by population and weight of responsibility than that of the next state?”
According to him, the most populous states of Lagos and Kano are at the bottom of the representation ladder.
He recalled that the President was quick to exonerate those he called “my people” from the October 1, 2010 bombings in Abuja.
El-Rufai said Henry Okah, convicted of
the offence in South Africa, revealed that a Presidency official
contacted him to implicate some northerners.
He also said after the 2011 elections,
Jonathan told a delegation of the Ohanaeze Ndigbo that the only votes
he got from the North were from Igbo residents in the region.
He asked, “Are those the words of a
patriot or an ethnic bigot? This was after an election where he received
nearly 100 per cent of all votes cast in the South-South and South-East
states, in some cases getting more votes than there were registered
voters or even residents.”
He also criticised Vice-President Namadi Sambo for the massive debts he incurred as the governor of Kaduna State.
However, the Presidency said el-Rufai
and his ilk were “grossly irresponsible for targeting Jonathan in their
politics of abuse and name-calling.”
Abati said nobody had the right to denigrate the office of the President under the guise of engaging in criticism.
Doing so, according to the presidential spokesman, is both “unreasonable and foolish.”
Abati said, “I have not seen the full
text of El-Rufai’s statement. I will look out for it and study it and if
need be, I will respond appropriately.”
Also, the media aide to the
vice-president, Mallam Sani Umar, challenged el-Rufai to publish the
facts on the Kaduna State debt profile and the water project.
Umar said, “I challenge El-Rufai to
publish the debt profile of the state from 1996 to date for the public
to decipher and judge whether huge debts were bequeathed to Kaduna
State or not by the Sambo administration.”
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Malam El Rufai, pls note that your "holier than thou/Johnathan" attitude does not give you the right to be holier than God...to me, you and others like you (ACN, Ribadu,Lai Mohamed, Buhari e.t.c) are only self serving opportunists who will trample on anything just to achieve your depraved goals. After all , in a country where your co-travellers are busy invoking the blood of baboons and dogs before and after crushing electoral defeats is not sacrilegious enough,but you had to now escalate your disdain for Nigeria by this most heinous insult to our creator.
ReplyDeleteI have never had any regard for you and your kind,but it should be noted that for all Johnathan's "cluelessness","foolishness","drunkeness" and "lack of interview confidence" he has never emitted the kind of putrid hate that constantly from the bellies you and your fellow travellers. Let it be noted, you cannot , i repeat, you cannot win over the people with hate!
Eventually, the world will see you and your kind for what you really are...feudalists who still believe rulership of Nigeria is their birthright....I contend Malam, that Nigeria has moved on and you are relics of a Cold War that has long since ended.
Shame on you!
You should still NOTE that after you ABUSED JESUS in your tweet, NO Mosque was burnt and NO Muslim was murdered. NEVER YOU FORGET THAT!
El rufai is already discredited so for me no matter what he says he's not an honorable man; end of story
ReplyDeleteThis Mallam is just a mumu. People like him will never get into leadership positions again in country.
ReplyDeleteMay God silent you.
To all Nigerians and especially those who know how to pray . I beseech you to pray that this kind of emotions and strong sentiments emanating across this country in the form of politics should rest with the elites and never be adopted by the masses of you and I , cos when that happens , then the bubble is busted and as Chinua said the Centre may not hold anymore . Ka chineke mezie okwu
ReplyDeleteBUt u cant deny d fact dat wat El - Rufai said is d truth and nothin bt d truth. u can only abuse him dats all.
ReplyDeleteWhy castigating individual or El Rufai personality. He mentioned some grave issues which should arouse our attention rather than the sentiments we are attaching to the accused.
ReplyDeletePlease Nigerians wake up from your slumber,i do not support the Mallam abusing constituted authority but what he said should be analysed properly without sentiments so we can move forward.
I can vividly recall how GEJ said the 2010 independent day bombing was not perpetrated by MEND but Henry Okar later confirmed its group carried it out. Who is deceiving who!
What you (El Rufai) said might be true, GEJ is a foolish and clueless leader. But you fool, are not better than GEJ. If he had given you a ministerial or ambassadorial position, i'm syre you'll be singing his praises
ReplyDelete