By Suleiman A Suleiman
In a revealing part of his recent appearance on Arise News Prime Time show, former Governor of Kaduna State Nasir El-Rufai said that National Security Adviser, Nuhu Ribadu is responsible for his current travails at home and with the federal government. He said Ribadu has been undermining he, El-Rufai, because he wants to succeed President Tinubu as Nigeria’s president in 2031. He then asserted that both Ribadu and Governor Uba Sani are no longer his friends. Ribadu, in turn, promptly issued a statement that he will not join issues with El-Rufai “out of respect for our past association and our respective families”.
It is instructive that the same relationship between them that El-Rufai calls “friendship”, for Ribadu, it is simply no more than “past association”. So, were they ever friends? Were they ever not? Are their issues joined, regardless of what either says publicly? Whatever the case, this public fall out between the two, then, is a short but intriguing episode in Nigeria’s long-drawn political drama. And taken as a whole, their story reads much like a political version of the Oedipus complex without the filial ties, or more appropriately, like the protagonists in Jefferey Archer’s political thriller, First Among Equals. Above all, their story quite amply demonstrates how the wheels of politics can sometimes turn the fortunes of friendship and family. And to properly understand any story of their relationship, we must invoke both.
The bonds of friendship, like much of family, endure by the expectations of mutual trust, loyalty, and ‘love’. In short, true friendship places weighty demands on us in ways that few other personal relationships— marriage for example—do. True friendship is therefore an intrinsic relationship, cultivated and shared purely for its own sake, free of any obligations. Politics is different. Trust and loyalty are important, yes, but politics is primarily about interests or ends, and the means for achieving them. Being so purposive and goal-driven, political relationships are therefore almost entirely instrumental. We do politics because we want something else that we can have, but which others can have too, and hence, political contention and competition. Friendship, in short, is not a reliable thing in politics, and cannot be.
When the political goal we seek is deeply personal, such as the legitimate aspiration to be president of our country, it could, and most likely would, tear down any kind of ‘friendship’ bonds between any two people. To a lesser extent, the same could be true when the political goal is ideological, that is, the enthronement of our view of the world. My guess is that this is what is happening between El-Rufai and Ribadu. They both want the same thing, but cannot have it at the same time, and hence, the inherent confrontation and conflict between them, regardless of past relationships.
The two men have a lot in common. They were both born in Nigeria’s year of independence, 1960, which means they both belong to the luckiest generation of Nigerians so far. Moreover, El-Rufai is noted for his intelligence and brilliance, which is true. But anyone who knows Ribadu would know that El-Rufai is not in any shape or form more brilliant or intelligent than him. El-Rufai is more voluble, Ribadu more reticent. But they match each other squarely in intelligence and brilliance.
They both had excelled in their respective careers and were brought to government and national limelight by the same man, former President Obasanjo. It has been said that both men were recommended to Obasanjo by former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar, who being a true statesman and elder, has never publicly begrudged either of them about it, even though they took the side of Obasanjo in the latter’s epic fallout with his deputy. And in a twist of fate, Ribadu’s daughter is now married to Atiku’s son, and El-Rufai is now married to Atiku politically.
Obasanjo gave both Ribadu and El-Rufai more powers and political latitude than their respective offices commanded. El-Rufai would go on to become perhaps the only “super minister” Nigeria has had since 1999, with responsibilities stretching far beyond his nominal ministry of the Federal Capital Territory. Ribadu, on the other hand, would go on to become the most distinguished figure in Nigeria’s anti-corruption to date. Both men are also known for their flip-flops and political expediency, doing or saying one thing today, only to deny or spin same tomorrow.
Above all, they had one common political enemy in late President Umaru Yar’adua. Having been assigned the role of Selectors of Obasanjo’s Successor, both men had a direct hand in the selection and subsequent election of Yar’adua. For this reason, they both clearly felt entitled to some special consideration or protection under the Yar’adua presidency, particularly since either by circumstance or by their own hands, both men had made many enemies who now wanted their pound of flesh since Obasanjo was no longer there to protect them.
Yar’adua, on the other hand, saw things differently, and rightly so. First of all, Umaru Musa Yar’adua came from a family with a far higher political pedigree than Ribadu’s, and certainly than El-Rufai’s. Secondly, Yar’adua had by this time already won two governorship elections all on his own, certainly without the help of Obasanjo or Ribadu and El-Rufai. He was also a different kind of person altogether: mild in speech, yet steely of heart. Being so situated in relation to them, it is only natural that Yar’adua would not feel himself beholden to either man in his own government, even if they had a hand in its making. Therefore, the grudge both men bore against him, even well after his death, perhaps stems more from their own misunderstanding of the context, than whatever it was Yar’adua did or did not do.
The political careers of the two men diverged strikingly after Yar’adua’s death, to which, El-Rufai, at least, openly gloated. Obasanjo was out of power. Yar’adua was dead. And President Jonathan was not welcoming of either, even though both also played a part in his elevation to the presidency. And since up to that time, neither was really a politician with a political base of their own, each was on the lookout for yet another political godfather. Ribadu pitched in with Tinubu, El-Rufai with Buhari.
The merger of 2013 brought them together again under the banner of the All Peoples Congress (APC). But as I have written previously in these pages, the APC is in fact two parties in one: the Buhari APC and the Tinubu APC. This is why there are no more than two or three people who served at high levels with Buhari in the current executive. The Buhari side, to which El-Rufai belonged, have had their eight years of rule. The Tinubu camp is into their first four years, and as we can now all see, they mean to have their second four years, even if the roof comes down on all of us.
This is the source of the current misunderstanding between Nasir and Nuhu. Ribadu, Tinubu and a few other close allies of the president, patiently sat out the entire eight years of Buhari, without, as Tinubu himself has said, no appointments, no contracts, nothing. Their thinking is that it is only fair that the Buhari camp, including El-Rufai, should sit out the next eight years too. What happens after that is anyone’s guess. In this sense, they do not believe they owe El-Rufai anything, or that they betrayed him, even though it is true that he helped elect them, just as they too had helped elect Buhari’s camp to which he belonged twice before.
This is what Ribadu probably means by saying he would not join issues with El-Rufai. That is, just go and wait patiently as I did and stop grieving about nothing. There are two problems, however. In a country whose politics is still predominantly regional in both perception and reality, the current situation of in-fighting, bickering, and self-interested manoeuvres among the senior northerners in the government only help to strengthen Tinubu’s hand against them all, thereby making them all vulnerable to his whims. The fall of one can become the fall of all. That is also the second problem.
All of which brings us to the current context. Following the failed attempt by security agents to “arrest” or “abduct”, and the two are not the same things, him at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja, last week, El-Rufai alleged, once again, that it was all Ribadu’s doing. I have no way of knowing whether the allegation is true or not. But it is perhaps time both men sheathe their swords because Tinubu has clearly shown that no northerner is safe with him once they are no longer of use.
This article was first published a year ago, with the exception of the last paragraphs which reflects more recent events
Suleiman A Suleiman can be reached through suleimansuleiman@dailytrust.com, (0706645183 SMS)
