A former Minister of the
Federal Capital Territory, Nasir El-Rufai, has said that ex-Head of State,
Muhammadu Buhari, spearheaded the war against the third term project of former
President Olusegun Obasanjo.
He added that former
Vice-President Atiku Abubakar merely claimed the victory for the truncation of
the project.
El-Rufai, who disclosed these in his book,
“The Accidental Public Servant,” said that Buhari fought third term ambition of
Obasanjo without taking the credit.
He listed others, who also
fought the Obasanjo’s third term dream as Dr. Usman Bugaje; Farouk Aliyu, Bala
Na’Allah and Femi Gbajabiamila.
El-Rufai said, “In the House
of Representatives, the most vocal and articulate opponents of the third term
bid, who rallied around Dr. Usman Bugaje (Peoples Democratic Party), included
Aliyu, Na’Allah of the All Nigeria Peoples Party and Gbajabiamila of the then
Alliance for Democracy.
“They all did a great job,
they were courageous and took risks to openly oppose the third term project,
while others like Atiku claimed victory.”
Click to read more after the cut...................
He explained that between
2003 and the time the third term debate started, Obasanjo and Buhari were not
on talking terms.
The former minister of the
Federal Capital Territory said that he intervened and appealed to Buhari to be
talking with Obasanjo.
El-Rufai said that he told
Buhari during a visit that he should be talking with Obasanjo.
He said that he told Buhari,
“You are a former President (Buhari); he (Obasanjo) is the current President.
You were his petroleum minister (when he was a head of state). You were very
close and enjoyed mutual respect. You should be talking,” he wrote in the book.
The former minister said
after his intervention, a delegation representing Buhari had an initial meeting
with Obasanjo at the Banquet Hall, near the State House in Abuja.
According to him, the
delegation comprised Dr. Mahmood Tukur; Adamu Fika (Wazirin Fika) and Dr. Sulaiman
Kumo.
He stated, “I learnt from
Obasanjo that the trio led by Fika reportedly told him that his third term
project would be defeated.
“At this point, I was not
looking like a successful emissary in Obasanjo’s eyes, but my job was done.
“Merely by reaching out, we
had succeeded in recruiting Buhari to spearhead the guerrilla warfare that
helped end the ‘constitutional amendment’ debates in the National Assembly.”
Explaining the role of the
former head of state, el-Rufai said, “Buhari remained available to engage with
Obasanjo while making repeated trips to Abuja to visit legislators in their
houses or calling them, making a pitch for them not to support the third term
attempt.”
The former minister stated
that Buhari had argued that the United States Constitution, which Nigeria’s was
modelled after, started without a term limit provision but that US citizens
later realised that term limit was necessary and hence it was added to the US
constitution.
Buhari’s second argument,
El-Rufai added, was that if the Nigerian constitution was amended to pave way
for Obasanjo’s third term bid, nothing would stop him from further tenure
elongation.
He said, “Buhari had
considerable moral authority and was completely disinterested in the outcome of
the third term debate, so having him available and physically in Abuja to
oppose it helped a lot in defeating Obasanjo, Tony Anenih, Ahmadu Ali, Ojo
Maduekwe, Senator Ibrahim Mantu, Dalhatu Tafida and other third term
protagonists.
“What was impressive about
Buhari was that he did this quietly and effectively without the desire to claim
any credit.”
El-Rufai also disclosed that
as part of the third term project, a public communications management group was
formed.
El-Rufai said the group
budgeted N1.2bn for public relations.
He said, “Circulated at one
of the meetings was a public relations budget for media spending to the tune of
N1.2bn that was drawn up in support of the third term project.”
El-Rufai stated that when he
asked how the money would be sourced, he was told that the Nigerian National
Petroleum Corporation and the Federal Capital Territory would provide it.
He said, “I had no intention
of using FCT’s security budget for such an endeavour. I was therefore relieved
when one of the newspapers in vehement opposition to the third term project
obtained the budget and it was front page news a few days later.”
When contacted, Atiku’s
spokesman, Mallam Garuba Shehu, said, “We thank God that El-Rufai is not the
only Nigerian that witnessed the third term project. The facts cannot be
changed to suit his current political need.”
He said that the former
minister’s book was a tissue of lies.
No comments:
Post a Comment