‘His bravado makes him victim of history’ – Northern Elders Forum blasts el-Rufai

Controversy has continued to trail recent statement credited to the immediate past governor of Kaduna, Nasir el-Rufai, who was captured in a video telling Muslim clerics that the Muslim-Muslim 2023 governorship and presidential tickets in the state and Nigeria, was a ploy to deceive Christians.

The former governor also stated that the strategy will help the Muslims retain and dominate the state and country for more years to come, as he posited that ’it has come to stay’.

While the comments have drawn extensive condemnations from across various religious divides in the country, the man at the centre of the storm, el-Rufai has failed deny the video clip.

“Despite all the ethic gathering and despite the use of religion that was used , God gave Asiwaju Tinubu Victory.

“We successfully did in Kaduna (Muslim-Muslim ticket) has now been replicated all over the country…” el-Rufai was shown telling the gathering in Hausa language in the video.

Reacting, the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) Chairman in Kaduna State, John Joseph Hayab, speaking while featuring as guest on the Arise Television programme, Wednesday, insisted that the former state Governor was ‘only pushing his personal agenda and not speaking for the Kaduna and Nigerian Muslims.’

“This video in the first place is real, because that is El-Rufai for you. If you have known El-Rufai for 20 years and you watch this video now, you will know this is the El-Rufai, because El-Rufai has not changed.

“Let me put it clear, for even thinking that the victory of Asiwaju was a Muslim thing shows that the man is actually living in inferiority complex, feeling people look down on me, people feel I’m not fit to be. So, he says things and act to show his might,” he added.

“Ignore the man, who is calling for attention. Ignore the man, who is up to a gimmick. Don’t even take him serious.

“El-Rufai is not speaking for faith. We will not fight Muslims, we will not accuse Muslims, because we know El-Rufai is not speaking for them and we know Muslim will not think that way. We want a united Nigeria. We want a Nigeria that whoever we have given mandate to lead will lead us as a people,” Hayab added.

Also reacting, a former national executive of the CAN, Evangelist Kwamkur Samuel, said el-Rufai, has only confirmed that he supported the terrorism and violence in the Kaduna State, adding that the former governor supported the killings of Christians in the state and Nigeria in general.

The Christian cleric said this while reacting to the viral video where El-Rufai was caught telling a group of Islamic scholars that Muslim/Muslim governorship ticket would be sustained in Kaduna State beyond 20 years by God’s grace.

Evangelist Samuel in a press statement described el-Rufai’s address as ‘vituperations against the Christian community and non-Muslims in Nigeria.’

“Ordinarily, I have heard Islamic clerics preach that Tinubu’s Muslim/Muslim ticket is in furtherance of an Islamisation agenda, and despite that I am one of those who contributed in discouraging Christians and Nigerians from accepting such as true because I believed in the antecedents and character of His Excellency, Ahmed Bola Tinubu, but hearing from a political leader like El-Rufai, a close associate of Tinubu and Shettima, an active participant in the campaign who was contemplated as one of the qualified persons to be appointed as the Chief of Staff to Mr President or Secretary to the Government of the Federation, confirmed that there is a hidden agenda to be mindful of.

“In the said address, Mallam Nasir El-Rufai spoke like one of the religious bigots that have been working underground to set the nation on fire. Amongst his ill-motivated statements which I can only paraphrase for now, El-Rufai confirmed that he is a leader of the Islamic terrorist group operating in Sambisa forest albeit disguising as a governor in a complex nation like Nigeria,” Samuel said.

Meanwhile, the Northern Elders Forum (NEF) has weighed in on the statement credited to el-Rufai, sa the apex Northern advocacy body described the former Kaduna governor as egocentric.

National Director of Publicity and Advocacy, Dr Hakeem Baba-Ahmed, while reacting to the comments by el-Rufai said via his Twitter handle described the politics of the former Kaduna governor  as’ a blend of ego, contempt for public opinion, an unbridled and juvenile craving for importance, and poor sense of history.’

The NEF spokesman wrote: “Honestly I am reluctant to discuss Mal el-Rufai these days. He is his best spokesman. His politics is a blend of ego, contempt for public opinion, an unbridled and juvenile craving for importance, and poor sense of history. 

“He thinks he makes history; his bravado makes him its victim.”