Malam Nasir El-Rufai, the former governor of Kaduna State, has revealed that he knows individuals who paid for ministerial positions in President Bola Tinubu’s All Progressives Congress (APC) government.

In an interview with BBC Hausa, El-Rufai clarified that his departure from the party was not due to his ministerial ordeal but because the APC had drifted from its founding ideals. He explained that if the party had sacked him, it would have spared him the stress of explaining his exit. According to him, it wasn’t he who left the APC, but rather, the party had abandoned him and its original principles.

“It could have been easier for me if APC sacked me because they would save me from explaining the stress of why I left the party,” El-Rufai said.

When asked whether he thought people might believe he left due to not being appointed as a minister, El-Rufai confidently responded, “Did I seek to be minister? I know people who paid to get ministerial appointments.”

Although El-Rufai did not regret supporting Tinubu’s presidential campaign, he expressed his disappointment with how he had been treated. He further criticized the APC for becoming a party where personal interests overshadow the original vision, making it difficult for those who worked hard for its success to be acknowledged or rewarded.

“The APC has abandoned the ideals that led to its formation. It has abandoned the people. Everyone is now pursuing personal interests and wealth. The government has become a business enterprise where everything has a price,” he said.

El-Rufai also pointed out that key appointments in the current administration are being controlled by a select group from Lagos, reinforcing his belief that fairness and justice have been sidelined within the party.

“There is no justice. Those who worked for the party are not recognised, let alone rewarded. Appointments are now controlled by a select group from Lagos. The party is dead,” El-Rufai concluded.

Before making the decision to leave the APC, El-Rufai consulted several political figures, including former President Muhammadu Buhari, Tunde Bakare, Abdullahi Adamu, Adams Oshiomhole, and Bisi Akande, to seek their opinions on his situation.

Former President Olusegun Obasanjo has said that most Nigerians are only interested in using public offices to enrich themselves and their cronies and then leave the country worse than they met it.

The former President said these people obtain billions of naira in loans, believing that paying back from public funds after being elected won’t be a problem.

Obasanjo disclosed this in his new book, ‘Nigeria: Past and Future’ where he painted the characters of chief executives at both the federal and state levels.

The book was one of two new books unveiled to mark Obasanjo’s 88th birthday last week.

The former President said the majority of those who have been opportuned to hold leadership positions in the country such as governors, presidents, ministers, commissioners and local government chairpersons, were ill-prepared, satanic, self-centred and were all out to corruptly enrich themselves while the nation continues to wallow in abject poverty and condemnable underdevelopment.

Obasanjo said that many clamouring to be governors or lead the country in one form or the other are only interested in using their offices to enrich themselves and their cronies and then leave the country worse than they met it.

He said, “How do you explain the situation of a chief executive, a governor, whose business was owing the banks billions of naira and millions of dollars before becoming a governor and within two years of becoming governor, without his company doing any business, he paid all that his businesses owed the banks.

“You are left to guess where the money came from. Having got away with that in the first term, he consigned to himself almost half of the state resources in the second term. He was a typical example of the goings-on at that level almost universally in the country with only a few exceptions.

“State resources are captured and appropriated to themselves with a pittance to staff and associates to close the mouths of those that could blow the whistle or raise alarm against them while in office and when they are out of office.’’

He further said, “The ones that are criminally ridiculous are the chief executives that deceive, lie and try to cover up on the realities and truth of action and inaction on contract awards, agreements, treaties, borrowings and forward sales of national assets. Such chief executives are unfit for the job they find themselves in.”

Speaking on the N15.6tn Lagos-Calabar Coastal highway project, the former President described it as wasteful and corrupt.

Minister of Works, David Umahi, had revealed that the 700km Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway will cost N4.93bn per kilometre, stating that the contract was awarded on a counterpart-funding basis and not a Public-Private Partnership.

About N1.06tn has been released for the pilot phase, or six per cent of the project, which begins at Eko Atlantic and is expected to terminate at the Lekki Deep Sea Port.

Many prominent Nigerians, including the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party in the 2023 general elections, Atiku Abubakar, have questioned the Federal Government’s decision to award the contract to Gilbert Chagoury’s Hitech Construction Company without competitive bidding.

Chagoury is believed to be Tinubu’s long-time business partner and friend.

Assessing the two years of President Bola Tinubu-led administration, Obasanjo said it appears that the game of short-changing the over 230 million Nigerians would continue because “everything is said to be transactional and the slogan is ‘it is my turn to chop.’’

“Typical examples of waste, corruption and misplaced priority are the murky Lagos-Calabar Coastal Road on which the President had turned deaf ears to protests and the new Vice-President’s official residence built at a cost of N21bn in the time of economic hardship to showcase the administration hitting the ground running and to show the importance of the office of the Vice-President. What small minds!”

He equally slammed the federal government for spending N21bn on a new official residence for Vice President Kashim Shettima, calling it a misplaced priority and conduit designed to embezzle public funds.

To address some of the challenges facing the country, the former President said that there is a need to interrogate the Western liberal democracy being practised and see how it could be reviewed to reflect African peculiarities.

“If the West, from where the liberal democracy started should complain about it not working well for them, we should be wise enough at this stage to interrogate, carry out introspection, internal analysis and realise that Western liberal democracy is not working for us and is not delivering apart from the shortcomings of the operators.

“We should seek democracy within African history, culture, attributes and characteristics, one that will take necessary African factors into consideration. Until we can get a better word or description for it, let us call it Afrodemocracy.

“It is from Afrodemocracy that we will draw up an African people’s constitution for any African that chooses to go the way of Afrodemocracy, which will avoid most, to all, the faults we have found in Western liberal democracy,” he suggested.

By Kayode Sanni-Arewa

The Aliko Dangote Foundation has unveiled the 2025 Annual National Food Intervention Project valued N16bn to benefit one million Nigerians across Nigeria.

The Chairman of the Aliko Dangote Foundation, Mr Aliko Dangote, made the disclosure during the inaugural ceremony on Thursday in Kano.

Represented by his daughter, Marya Aliko-Dangote, he said the annual initiative, which embodies compassion, solidarity, and shared responsibility, is part of the foundation’s response to the current economic challenges facing the nation.

“The distribution of one million bags of 10kg rice to the poor and most vulnerable Nigerians across the 774 Local Government Areas is in line with the core values of this foundation.

“We are collaborating with state governments to ensure that the food reaches the most vulnerable individuals in each state.

“Our foundation focuses on improving the living conditions of Nigerians through support projects, which tackle hunger and water supply problems.

“We are also strengthening the quality and scope of health and education, as well as promoting economic empowerment at the community level,” he said

Dangote urged other industrialists and firms to lend a helping hand in combating hunger through programmes and initiatives that would place food on the tables of vulnerable Nigerians.

According to him, there’s a need to complement government efforts in fighting hunger and poverty through a public-private partnership.

“I commend the government at all levels for efforts in addressing the food crisis.

I am certain that with time, we shall overcome these challenges. Therefore let us support the government to achieve its target of a better life for Nigerians,” he said.

On his part, Gov. Abba Kabir-Yusuf of Kano State said the intervention reflects the unwavering commitment of Dangote in addressing poverty and hunger in Nigeria.

Represented by the Deputy Governor, Aminu Abdulsalam-Gwarzo, he said the gesture would go a long way in alleviating hardship, particularly during the blessed month of Ramadan.

He said the state government has set up a committee including relevant stakeholders including security agencies to ensure transparency in the distribution process

his remarks, the Managing Director of the Aliko Dangote Foundation, Zouera Youssoufou, reiterated the commitment of Dangote to continue giving back to society in various ways including supporting governments in fighting poverty and hunger.

Also speaking, the Deputy Commander-General of Hisbah Board in Kano, Dr Mujahid Aminudeen, commended the foundation for the initiative and urged others to emulate Dangote.

He said the board would be actively engaged to ensure that the products reach the targeted beneficiaries.

(NAN)