Apostle Paul is arguably the second most important name in Christianity after Christ Jesus, the Messiah, for his role in bringing the good news of the gospel to the gentiles. There were series of well documented correspondences between him and leaders of the fledging Christian community among gentiles nations, one of which is recorded in the Holy Bible as ‘’epistle of Apostle Paul to the Romans’’, admonishing them to the way of salvation, by accepting Christ Jesus as their personal Lord and saviour.
Never did Apostle Paul direct his epistles to Christ Jesus himself, admonishing him to follow the path of righteousness. It would have been unthinkable because Jesus Christ is believed to be the Lord and saviour of mankind, infallible, immaculately conceived, pure and holy and above all forms of worldly temptations.
Therefore, it was shocking to many Buhari admirers, some said “worshippers”, when Malam Nasir EL-Rufa’i, a devout Apostle of the gospel of change wrote a critical epistle to St. Buhari, admonishing the “Messiah” himself to turn away from iniquity and follow the narrow path of salvation.
El-Rufai wrote ‘’ In very blunt terms, Mr. President, our APC administration has not only failed to manage expectations of a populace that expected overnight “change” but has failed to deliver even mundane matters of governance outside of our successes in fighting BH insurgency and corruption. Overall, the feeling even among our supporters today is that the APC government is not doing well’’.
El-Rufa’i’s epistle was actually a rehash of what is already in the public space. The only difference is that this is coming from a close ally and major stakeholder in the Muhammadu Buhari presidency. The president has been criticized for his unrelenting blame game on past administrations without doing much to right the wrong.
El-Rufa’i appears to share this view ‘’However, we cannot, after more than a year in office continue to rely only on this ‘blame them’ explanation. We were elected precisely because Nigerians knew that the previous administration was mismanaging resources and engaged in unprecedented waste and corruption. We must therefore identify the roots of our enduring economic under-performance as a nation, and present a medium-term national plan and strategy to turn things around.
We must persuade Nigerians that they have to withstand the individual pains of today for the collective gains of tomorrow’’. One issue raised in this epistle that was quite courageous was the issue of sectionalism at the highest level of government. ‘’There is a strong perception that your inner circle or kitchen cabinet is incapable, unproductive and sectional. The quality and the undue concentration of key appointments to the North-East and exclusion of South-East are mentioned as evidence of this’’.
So far there is no official response from the presidency on the El-Rufa’i epistle to Buhari. Reactions from the public have been mixed. Some consistent critics of the Buhari administration feel vindicated while some sympathizers accuse him of disloyalty and unbridled ambition. For the Buharideens, they are too shocked to react and are yet to reconcile El-Rufa’i’s position to their belief in the infallibility of their hero. However, what should be discernible to the critical mind is that there is an on-going realignment of forces within the ruling APC.
Beginning with the spectacular performance of acting President Yemi Osibanjo, which exposed the inadequacies and inherent deficiencies in the leadership style of President Buhari that is now further highlighted by the El-Rufa’i epistle, it is manifestly clear that the realigning forces within APC, are determined to take their party back by gradually but steadily, separating the party’s original agenda of change from President Buhari’s idea of change; an idea that is narrow, shallow and empty, which has failed according to El-Rufa’i to move the country away from the maladministration of the past to an institutionalized good governance structure, today that will guarantee a prosperous future for Nigeria and Nigerians tomorrow .
If the APC will be re-invented it has become expedient to denounce the presidency of Buhari as not the agenda of the party but the idea of Buhari and his sectional and incompetent kitchen cabinet.
The denouncing of the Buhari presidency by progressive forces within the APC will re-assure Nigerians who believe in the party but who are now mostly disillusioned by the dramatic failure of the Buhari administration to deliver on most of its campaign promises and will go a long way to reposition the APC for a competitive edge in the 2019 general elections in the face of a wobbling and fumbling PDP.
There is no doubt that the Muhammadu Buhari brand has become a burden and liability to the APC and the northern political establishment. A candidate in whom millions of Nigerians faithfully stood by since his foray into partisan politics in 2003, has become an unforeseen disappointment in power.
The north, which is the president’s power base, would have remained unchanged if not worse off in every index of development at the end of his tenure in 2019. Nigerians and the APC will have to look beyond Muhammadu Buhari for good governance. It is not enough to fly the flag of integrity. It is more important to possess the twin qualities of wisdom and knowledge to deploy your integrity positively for the common good of the citizenry, without which your integrity may degenerate negatively into a dishonest integrity.
Mallam El-Rufa’i has displayed a rare courage, which will open a floodgate of similar open denouncing of the Buhari presidency in order to save the APC from going down in infamy along with the president the same way the PDP went down with former President Goodluck Jonathan because leading members of the party lacked the El-Rufa’i courage and objectivity to call him to order.
By this epistle El-Rufai has put his loyalty to the nation above personal loyalty to a mentor and kinsman. His objective assessment of the Buhari administration reveals a man who is in a justifiable hurry to see Nigeria evolve into a great and prosperous nation. El-Rufa’i, like other prominent northern influential but critical voices as Emir Muhammadu Sanusi II of Kano, Prof Ango Abdullahi, Junaid Muhammed, Farooq Kperoogi, Jafar Jafar, Zainab Suleiman Okino and so many others too numerous to mention clearly show an emerging class of northern political elite that are not willing to sacrifice the interest of Nigeria on the platter of regional sentiments.
These courageous voices of truth and objectivity from the north is a clear indication that the region will play a critical role in the post Buhari era, if not lead the process of a new political order that will attempt to usher in a more inclusive and responsive form of governance.
