Governor Nasir el-Rufai of Kaduna State is characteristically a controversial person, but whether that has put in good stead with his people is yet to be quantified

By Emeka Ejere

Nasir el-Rufai, the governor of Kaduna State, is not new to controversies. He is not also known to back down easily on what he tenaciously believes in.

Only recently, the governor sparked off another round of controversies after warning foreign election observers that if they intervened in the forthcoming Nigerian elections, they would be returned to their various countries in body bags.

The statement, uttered during a media appearance on an NTA programme on Tuesday, February 5, drew criticisms from Nigerians and the opposition parties to el-Rufai.

He had said: “This is my appeal. Now, intervention is the higher form of interference where countries intervene militarily. We have done that in Sierra Leone and Liberia and we only did so because we had the international community actually appealing to Nigeria to go in and restore order. It cost us a lot of money and lives and we never got anything from it.

“Those that are calling for anyone to come and intervene in Nigeria, we are waiting for the person to come and intervene. They would go back in body bags because nobody would come to Nigeria and tell us how to run our country. We have got that independence.”

What, perhaps, made the body bag threat a big issue was its frightening security implication, especially at a time the searchlight of the international community is intensely beamed on Nigeria on account of the general elections. Otherwise, the governor is well known for his unpopular views and policies.

The governor’s choice of Hadiza Balarabe, his fellow Muslim, as running mate, in breach of a standing agreement between the Christians and Muslims in the state, is still raising dust.

But el-Rufai, in his clarification, said the choice of his running mate was based on competence and performance, insisting that there was no room for religious or sentiments in deciding who to appoint into any office in the state.

“Muslim-Muslim ticket is not a religious ticket but a competence and performance ticket,” the governor said.

“The Muslim-Muslim ticket, among other things, may cost el-Rufai his second term bid,” Peter Chukwu, a political analyst, said.

But that is not the only problem for the governor. In April 2018, el-Rufai caused an uproar in the state when he sacked 22,000 teachers that failed competency test based on questions meant for primary four pupils. He then announced that he would replace them with competent teachers, based on a competitive recruitment exercise.

He matched his words with action. But at the end of the exercise, some of the teachers could not correctly write acceptance letters, forcing the state government to organise another screening for all the newly-recruited teachers.

This led to the sack of 4,562 out of the newly-recruited teachers, a few weeks after they were issued with employment letters to replace those sacked for failing a competency test.

Ja’afaru Sani, the commissioner for Education, said the reason for the dismissal of the teachers was because they found their ways into the service of state government through dubious means.

Sani said: “At the end, 4,562 incompetent ones, believed to have found their way into the final list illegally, were fished out, leaving 11,335 competent ones.”

The 11,335 newly-recruited teachers, predominantly degree holders, including a few with Master’s degrees, were then deployed to over 4,000 primary schools.

Indeed, since he assumed office as the governor of the state, el-Rufai has shown himself as a no nonsense leader. First, it was demolition of structures built on government lands, which attracted some uproar from those directly affected. This was followed by evacuation of beggars from the streets.

These actions put him at loggerheads with Shehu Sani, the senator representing Kaduna Central, who views his actions and policies as anti-masses.

However, at a time, the governor appeared to have calmed nerves with the school feeding programme that saw enrolment jump at the onset. But it was later discovered that some of the children only came to feed and then return home without actually attending classes.

There was also the issue of a Bill he sent to the State Assembly for enactment into law to curb religious preaching. As expected, the move received knocks from several quarters, particularly religious bodies, who viewed it as a violation of their human right.

Shortly after, the governor was in the news again over government’s introduction of a fresh verification exercise that compels civil servants to fill in forms indicating if they still want to be members of the Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC, and Trade Union Congress, TUC, or not.

This has put the government and, indeed, the governor in direct confrontation with the Labour, as leaders of the affiliate bodies of the two unions gathered at the state NLC secretariat for an emergency meeting to brief their national leaders on the new directive.

They particularly wanted government to expunge the portion that states that civil servants should decide whether or not they want to belong to labour union in the new state government’s rules of engagement.

Ayuba Wabba, the NLC president, and Bobbai Kaigama, his TUC counterpart, directed the workers to disregard the order by not filling the form, saying it was against International Labour Organisation, ILO, Convention on rights of workers, and also a deliberate attempt to destabilise unionism in the state’s public service.

But the governor, through Samuel Aruwan, his spokesman, said the exercise was a continuation of the previous one that started the previous year and not a new one, to establish a comprehensive data.

He restated government’s respect for the right of workers to freedom of association, but added that it is democratic that those who wish to exercise this right or not should indicate in writing.

Labour gave the state government an ultimatum to back down or face industrial action, while the latter vowed to deal with any worker that refused to fill the form or go on strike as a result of the verification exercise. No further development has been heard concerning the matter.

In any case, the controversial governor came into the conscious of the nation when he was the minister of the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, under Olusegun Obasanjo, former president of Nigeria. Then, el-Rufai was involved in so many controversial cases, especially over the status of the FCT by insisting that the master plan of the territory must be followed to the letter. This brought about the demolition of many houses and markets.

The controversial governor is now seeking for a second term in office at the polls to be held on Saturday, March 2. But whether his activities and pronouncements in the past four years will work in his favour or against him is, for now, a matter of conjecture.

– Feb. 15, 2019 @ 03:05 GMT |