“I certainly think it is better to be impetuous than cautious, for fortune is a woman, and it is necessary, if you wish to master her, to conquer her by force; and it can be seen that she lets herself be overcome by the bold rather than those who proceed coldly”
–Nicholo Machiavelli, 1469 – 1527

By CHIDI OBINECHE

Related News

Kaduna State Governor, Nasir El- Rufai, the self acclaimed “ ruffler of feathers” is not easily given to the easy and soft path on issues. From his days as minister of the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, he has trodden the hard undulating road of truculence, the garish, ineluctable company of ghoulish winds. He has spawn fire and brimstone from his mouth, spewed thunder that unsettled as it convulsed whole entities, and rocked in uneasy standoffish storms.
Last week, he walked the familiar path, taking former vice president and party mate, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar to the launderers over the latter’s scathing remarks in a publication that exposed the impetuous relationship between them while they were in government.  El- Rufai’s response, flung into the public space and characteristically dripping in dire ire and foul bellicosity, laboriously denied offering Atiku shares in Transcorp as alleged. He croaked; “He ( Atiku)  might also consider a full  reckoning  for what he and his acolytes did with public funds in the PTDF imbroglio, rather than indulging in the usual  bold face of the Nigerian  big- man.” Thinly veiled, he accused Atiku of plotting to destabilize the government of President Muhammadu Buhari because of his perceived 2019 presidential ambition. The hit, in ranking gaucherie, rancorously landed far below the waistline.
This is not the first time that the diminutive Kaduna governor will be raking up and slinging mud. He had on March 30, 2016 advised Buhari to overlook distractions and face his work. The advice, no matter its depth of goodness and valid intentions, stirred resentment in disbelief. And implanted a blot.  On August 1, 2016, the petit governor lamented the economic woes bedeviling the country. For a man rated as one of the president’s closest allies, these stank and churned the belly.
Lying underneath these attacks on his hallowed godfathers is a burrowing haunch that the governor harbours a barely concealed presidential ambition in 2019. In the besmirching mould of a maverick, el- Rufai  has got off the hook to blaspheme the Lord Jesus of the Christians in all sparkling heresy, saying “ If Jesus criticizes Jonathan’s government, Maku, Abati, or Okupe will say that he slept with Mary Magdalene.” The stench hardly abated before he banned Christians from preaching in Kaduna, among many bullish and vile decisions and utterances. Like a balloon, a canon let loose, he dangles and dives menacingly in a bottomless flight cascading in sleuth buzz.
Nasir Ahmad el- Rufai was born on February 16, 1960. He was a former director general of the Bureau for Public Enterprises, the head privatization agency in Nigeria, and also a former minister of the Federal Capital Territory, FCT from July 16, 2003 to May 29, 2007. Under the transition government of Abdulsalami Abubakar, he served as an adviser. He was reportedly on self exile under the administration of the late Umaru Musa Yar’ Adua.
Despite his northern upbringing, he always said he is a “Nigerian” first, before being “Hausa”. He attended the influential Barewa College where he graduated at the top of the class winning the coveted “ Barewa Old Boys Association academic achievement” trophy in 1976. He went to the Ahmadu Bello University, ABU where he studied Quantity Surveying, making first class honours. He also attended post- graduate school at Harvard Business School and George Town University. He completed his LLB degree in Law from London University in 2008, with 2nd class honours, and also bagged a Master’s in Public Administration from John F Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University.