Progressive Congress (APC) and former Minister of the Federal Capital
Territory (FCT), Malam Nasir El-Rufai has said that it was wrong for the Ijaw
tribe to hold Nigeria to ransom over the desirability or otherwise of
President’s Goodluck Jonathan’s continuity in office come 2015.
This
is just as he blamed Jonathan for seeking the intervention of the United States
on crude oil theft, saying “Jonathan knows those who are stealing the crude
oil, he knows what they are doing with the money, they are preparing for war
and Nigeria will defeat them.”
Responding,
one of Chief Edwin Clark’s close aides, Honourable (Dr) Cairo Ojuigboh said
El-Rufa’i is not a person to be taken seriously.
The
one time member of the House of Representatives said El-Rufa’i, being an
unstable person, had exhibited the traits much with his uncoordinated
vituperations against eminent Nigerians and individuals, express regrets that
the former Minister of Federal Capital Territory has the tendency to blackmail
too.
El-Rufa’i
who is also the deputy National Secretary of APC, accused President Jonathan of
using ethnicity and religion as major instruments in dividing Nigerians because
of his 2015 Presidential ambition, noting that he would fail “because Nigerians
could no longer be deceived and they are the victims of his poor performance in
governance.”
He
said the nation’s domestic economy under the Jonathan administration was
suffering, as the government devoted 70 per cent of the resources to running
government while only 30 percent was meant for development purposes.
Speaking
as guest of the week on Liberty FM Radio programme monitored in Kaduna at the
weekend, El-Rufa’i expressed worry that there were many dangers confronting the
country, noting that the kind of rhetoric and statements coming from Asari
Dokubo and Chief Edwin Clark were worrisome.
He
said: “In most cases, a week before any of them made statement; they must have
visited the Villa where they receive briefings. How can a small ethnic group
like the Ijaw threaten the rest of us? We are many, 170 millions Nigerians, I
don’t know how many millions are those that want to hold us to ransom. I don’t
think they are more than 5 million in this country.”
“How
can they threaten Nigerians and say unless our son rules in 2015 there would be
no Nigeria. Who are they? And the government is keeping quiet. And the expected
reaction is that you’ll also have people from the North threatening similarly.
What kind of country do we live in such that nobody is in charge to bring
people to order? It’s sad and again it is this political strategy of Jonathan
to always use ethnicity and religion whenever there is a problem.
“This
country has gone through one civil war and I don’t know if any country has
survived two civil wars. So, those that are stealing crude oil and buying arms
and stockpiling should know that it’s not the number of arms that determines
who defeats a war. So they should think deeply and learn from history. One who
doesn’t learn from history will be a victim of it.”
El-Rufa’i
berated what he described as a political strategy whereby “Jonathan always uses
ethnicity and religion to whip up sentiments and as political tools. When
excess crude account is down or when there is the issue of subsidy thieves,
they bring this issue of religion and ethnicity to the front burner,” adding
that “unfortunately, Jonathan’s political handlers thought that if they
introduce religion they will be able to divide the North and take the Christian
part of the North to vote for Jonathan. And if they introduce ethnicity, large
enough does it they will get the whole of the South. That’s their winning
strategy and now they are surprised that after dividing the country they are
finding difficult to get the cooperation of everyone.
“The
danger of division is that you defeat social trust which makes it very
difficult for you to cover and they are still playing this game. Now if
Jonathan is from a minority group, how did he get elected? Was he elected by
his minority groups or by other Nigerians? Because if we all decided to be
ethnic, Jonathan cannot even win election outside Bayelsa State because apart
from Bayelsa, there is no other place where the Ijaw are not a minority in
Nigeria. “
“So
when people like Edwin Clark and Jonathan play the ethnic and religious cards,
I just look at them because it’s not going to work. The moment anyone results
to ethnicity and religion, it’s because he doesn’t have a better ground. If you
are performing and doing the work of the people why do you need to resort to
that? It’s really wrong and it’s one of the tragedy of the Jonathan
leadership that whoever inherits the leadership of Nigeria will have to spend
the first and second year repairing the trust and relationship between the
various ethnic and religious group.”
El-Rufa’i
also described Vice-President Namadi Sambo’s administration while he was
governor of Kaduna State as a disaster, saying: “We’ve not had leadership
in Kaduna State since Alhaji Ahmed Makarfi left office as governor of Kaduna
State.”
