In praising El-Rufai, Obasanjo contradicts himself!

Obasanjo

Obasanjo addressing the Kaduna State Executive Council

Obasanjo addressing the Kaduna State Executive Council

Former President, Olusegun Obasanjo was a special guest at Kaduna State Executive Council meeting on Wednesday 11 December. That day, he poured encomiums on Governor Nasir El-Rufai, a statement that was diametrically different from the flak he fired at the Kaduna Governor in 2017.

Obasanjo reminded the audience that El-Rufai, who served under his administration as Minister of FCT, was “one of the best persons to work with, he is a near-genius. We need a character like this, a man that you know where you stand with him. Any job given to him will be well done,’’ adding that the people of Kaduna state now “have a good leader to work with.”

He added that Nigeria needs a public servant like El-Rufai who, as earlier published on this platform, has displayed pan-Nigeria character and commitment to good governance.

He further praised El-Rufai’s approach to governance especially in giving opportunities to women and that his cabinet “reflects a mini-Nigeria and has been striving to restore the past glory of Kaduna as a melting point of all Nigerians.”

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However, that was different from the verbal Exocets that Obasanjo fired at the Kaduna governor in 2017. 

In an article, “El-Rufai has penchant for lying, disloyalty,” Obasanjo criticized El-Rufai but acknowledged his prodigious intellect.

The former President wrote: “Nasir’s penchant for reputation savaging is almost pathological. Why does he do it? He is brilliant and smart. I grant him that also. Very early in my interaction with him, I appreciated his talent and brilliance. At the same time, I recognized his weaknesses; the worst being his inability to be loyal to anybody or any issue consistently for long, but only to Nasir el-Rufai. He barefacedly lied which he did to me against his colleagues and so-called friends. I have heard of how he ruthlessly savaged the reputation of his uncle, a man who was like, in the African setting, his foster father. I shuddered when I heard the story of what he did to his half-brother in the Air force who is senior to him in age.” Continue reading 

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