By Tony Orilade/ Abuja
He is not new to controversy. In fact, the former minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Malam Nasir el-Rufai is a master of the game when it comes to the issue of controversy. Although he had served as director-general of the Bureau of Public Enterprises from 1999, he came to the limelight when he was appointed minister of the FCT
 |
| • Malam Nasir el-Rufai |
in 2003. He stirred the hornets’ nest when he alleged that then Senate deputy president, Ibrahim Mantu and Senator Jonathan Zwingina demanded N54 million to facilitate his confirmation as minister. Although many Nigerians were ready to swear that el-Rufai was right, substantiating his claim became a herculean task. Thereafter, the Kaduna State-born Quantity Surveyor has never been shy of a fight. In fact, those who know him say he performs excellently well in an atmosphere of crisis.
Shortly afterwards, el-Rufai was to face the Senate again when he was accused of paying a whopping N2 million salary to a serving femaleYouth Corps member he appointed as a consultant to the FCT. At a point during the Senator Mamman Ali-led Committee on Public Accounts, the pint-sized Zaria boy explained to journalists that it was needless replying the legislators since silence remained the best answer for a fool. It took the intervention of the former president, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, for the legislators to let go the issue.
El-Rufai’s most trying moment, however, was when, as minister of the Federal Capital Territory he embarked on demolition of structures he deemed illegal in Abuja, which earned him the sobriquets: Mr. Demolition and Minister of Sorrow. Before his appointment, President Olusegun Obasanjo was reported as saying he needed an uncompromising individual to fix Abuja, and he found that man in el-Rufai. “We will inflict pains on the rich and powerful in our efforts to make Abuja work,” el-Rufai insisted, adding that it was only Obasanjo, not the House of Representatives, that could stop the demolition exercise.
Former President Shehu Shagari, former Senate president Anyim Pius Anyim and a whole lot of others too numerous to mention, have recounted their painful experiences in the extensive demolitions that characterised El-Rufai’s administration in Abuja. No fewer than 274 plots of land, netting 94,000sq.m, were confiscated from their original owners. He also demolished a great number of houses which did not conform with the Abuja Master-Plan.
El-Rufai bagged a first class degree in Quantity Survey from the Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria. He later proceeded to Harvard University, U.S. for an MBA. He was part of the Programme Implementation Committee, a think tank used by General Abdulsalami Abubakar’s government in the late 1990s, becoming director-general of BPE, the agency charged with implementing government’s privatisation programme, when President Olusegun Obasanjo assumed office in 1999.
While in BPE, he stepped on the toes of former Aviation minister, Mrs. Kema Chikwe, who wanted to cede 49 per cent of Federal Government’s equity in Nigeria Airways to a United Kingdom company. El-Rufai insisted that such exercise was under the purview of BPE.
The bid for 51 per cent of Nigerian Telecommunications Limited, NITEL, by Investment International (London) Ltd, IILL, was food for another controversy. El-Rufai was accused of favouring IILL over Mike Adenuga’s Communications Investment Limited, CIL. Greater controversy was to come in the NITEL affair when the House of Representatives came down hard on him for allegedly causing the federal government to lose N100 billion in the Pentascope management transaction.
As Nasir el-Rufai is being awaited by the Senator Abubakar Sodangi committee to testify this week, he will surprise not a few Nigerians if he expresses remorse for any of his actions in office.
Did you Enjoy this story? you may want to subscribe to our RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!
Random Post
- May 11, 2008 -- Shocking Death (0)
- May 19, 2008 -- We’re Desperate To Change Lagos —Fashola (7)
- June 30, 2008 -- Without Justice, Niger Delta Crisis Will Not End (0)
- June 9, 2008 -- It’s Obama! (0)
- November 24, 2008 -- Money Vs Honour (0)
- December 9, 2008 -- Justine Debuts (0)
- September 1, 2008 -- LAGOS/Raiding Beggars And Lunatics (1)
- February 9, 2009 -- My Mission To Ghana (0)
- December 9, 2008 -- Kano/Resolving Their Differences (0)
- August 11, 2008 -- The Demotion Is Illegal (28)
No tags for this post.
Related posts
Comment