Viewpoint
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A Troubling
Fixation |
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By Nasir el Rufai,
October 10, 2009 |
When I had informed the world that the
administration of President Umar Musa
Yar’adua was behind the decision of the
Nigerian High Commission in The United
Kingdom to deny me a new Nigerian
Passport (which as at the last time I
checked was a fundamental right, not a
privilege of every Nigerian) there were
strident denials from Abuja and Aso Rock
the sit of government. I was called a
liar, and the administration trumpeted
its rule of law mantra as a reason why
it would never do such. My readers would
remember that I had in the past said
that this ‘rule of law’ position of this
administration was nothing but a ruse
with which to blind fold the Nigerian
public while shielding monstrously
corrupt people from the law and
attacking innocent persons. Of course
again I was insulted and called a liar
by the President himself, his Attorney
General and his motley crowd of hangers
on.
Well, since the administration has
opened the door by denying that it never
ordered that I should be denied my right
of a Nigerian passport, I want to
provide proof to the whole world so we
can know once and for all, who is the
liar. I have included in this piece, a
letter from the Nigerian National
Intelligence Agency as well as another
from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs
which proves that President Yar’adua
himself in a bid to settle scores with
me gave the instruction which was
unwillingly carried out by the Nigerian
High Commission’s staff.
My readers can now see that while
notoriously corrupt persons like former
governor James Ibori and his ilk hold
sway as powerful members of the kitchen
cabinet of President Yar’adua the so
called rule of law mantra of this
administration has been used to damage
Nigeria’s National interest by denying
reputable foreign law enforcement bodies
such as the London Metropolitan police
the cooperation of their Nigerian
counterparts in the investigation of the
president’s cronies. The fellow who
opens the president’s mails, which are
the most confidential and classified
documents in Nigeria, a certain David
Edevbie, who is President Yar’adua’s
Principal Private Secretary and who used
to be James Ibori’s Commissioner for
Finance has been named in indictments in
the United Kingdom as an alleged money
launderer along with other alleged
criminal acts. However, the EFCC under
the direction of the President and his
Attorney General has chosen to look the
other way while doing all within its
power to hound Nuhu Ribadu and I, who
are two people who did all within our
power to make sure that Umaru Musa
Yar’adua emerges as president of
Nigeria.
Meanwhile, while the president fixates
on Nuhu and I, Nigeria continues to
drift. The huge reserves that were left
by the economic management team of the
previous administration of which Nuhu
and I were pillars have been dwindled.
At a time when the president should have
been focused on attending the United
Nations General Assembly, he allowed his
inferiority complex (which is the main
reason he has made it a pattern to
destroy his benefactors) to lead to cold
feet and rather than mingling with world
leaders to lobby for Nigeria’s seat at
the U.N Security Council, he chose to go
to Saudi Arabia to open a University at
a time while universities in his country
have been closed for 3 months.
At a time when Nigerians are scratching
their heads in confusion due to James
Ibori’s media interviews were he proudly
boast of his abilities to install
Inspector Generals of police and
influence the judiciary, the president
is completely insensitive to the
national security implications of a
double convict having such powers.
As I end this, I want to urge President
Yar’adua to forget about his fixation on
Nuhu and I and fix his gaze on Nigeria.
Nigerians have been patient enough and
they know that the reason for their
sufferings are not with Nuhu Ribadu or
Nasir El’rufai but with an
administration that promised to declare
an emergency on power but whose only
emergency has been the emergency of
containing the imaginary enemies of an
insecure leader who found himself in a
position as a result of our Beneficient
Creator who used a man who never forgot
the loyatly and respect shown him by the
late Tafida, Gen. Shehu Musa Yar’adua, a
man with enough sagacity to remember
those he met on his way up knowing that
he will also meet them on his way down.
President Yar’adua may wish to remember
the proverb that those whose kola nuts
have been broken for them by a
benevolent spirit ought to be
appreciative.
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