EL-RUFAI; Where Are Thou?

By Hon. Aliu Asipita AbdulMuluku

It has been seemingly unnoticed by many. But it is glaring for the blind to see. The silence from him is currently so loud it is deafening. Just listen for a while. You'd feel it too. 

That unassuming and visible El-Rufai, the Executive Governor of Kaduna State has been off the radar for a long while. Correct me if I'm wrong.

Since the victory of the APC at the Presidential elections, H.E El-Rufai who was strategic to the victory, seem to have simply been off the stage. I can bet you that he has been secretly asked to work on some policy assignment by our President-Elect.

While he had been off the radar, his political interests, and that of his State and zone have been protected and projected by our President-Elect and the APC. Hon. Tajudeen Abass is set to be elected as the next Speaker of the House of Representatives. This is in line with the APC zoning arrangement that spanned from our President-Elect Tinubu. 

As a critical observer of the ongoing game, you can see the hand of El-Rufai actively at play, moving his Chess pieces. The North-West has been zoned two Principal Positions. That is no coincidence if you ask me. El-Rufai and other APC leaders of that zone have played their cards right. It's obvious.

Before he had committed to supporting Tinubu all the way to victory, it took a public request of him from Tinubu to seal the promise, that he will not run off to school once his tenure as Governor had expired. It all happened before our very eyes in Kaduna at a Public function.

While El-Rufai didn't start out being a loyalist or fan of the Jagaban Borgu, our President-Elect H.E Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu never gave up on him. El-Rufai we remember was one of the earliest antagonist of the Jagaban, making a famous statement that he-Tinubu- should keep his god-fatherism in Lagos. As they say; all that is now history.

 

Tinubu had continued to court El-Rufai and Kaduna State without giving up. I can go down memory lane to tell you that, I was personally at the commissioning of the Arewa House Library in 2021 after its renovation by Tinubu. El-Rufai as the Governor never showed up. Infact, he had sent his Commissioner for Education alone to the event to represent him. The relationship was that infant at that point. But they have both become jolly good friends. That's the power of Tinubu. He is the one who actually understands the  'Art of The Deal' indeed. He deploys it in winning us all on all fronts by charming your hearts.

But in the course of time, Tinubu won El-Rufai's confidence and friendship. The inevitable fraternity of friendship between them both was sealed when Asiwaju cancelled his 2022 Colloquium in honor of the Kaduna train bomb blast victims. This was the turning point for El-Rufai. Asiwaju had visited too, and donated about fifty million naira to ameliorate the situation then. It was the caving point for the principled and foresighted Governor El-Rufai. This was how he became a full-chested Tinubuist. This love for Tinubu saw him at the peak of it, mobilizing other key northern Governors to challenge the President Buhari's infamous naira redesign policy, when it mattered the most to our campaign. We saw this going as far as the Supreme Court case instituted by El-Rufai, Yahaya Adoza Bello and Matawalle. This was the turning point in the struggle which once again rekindled our believe that Tinubu would win the election. The Supreme Court came to our side in its famed judgement, which further made it easier for ordinary Nigerian masses to understand the power dynamics at play. It gave us a huge relief to explain the issues to our people, and granted us the needed confidence to ask them for their votes, while they bore the brunts of the policy all through the elections, leading into the post election period as well.

That El-Rufai cannot suddenly be off the radar or quiet, and you'd assume it's just for the fun of it. He must probably be working, quietly, on something critical and strategic for the Tinubu Presidency. In the fullness of time, he and his policy suggestions shall be unveiled. I can bet you on this. Tinubu knows how to use egg-heads when he finds one. El-Rufai is cooking something tick for Tinubu as the transition period ticks towards inauguration on 29th May and into the government proper. I can smell it. I hope you can too? 

In the main time, I ask; El-Rufai; where are thou?

Hon. Aliu Asipita AbdulMuluku

Member, APC PCC 2023, ICC and National Coordinator, TINUBU DOOR-2-DOOR AMBASSADORS TD-DA writes from Abuja.

asipitamuluku25@gmail.com

@asipita_muluku