Nasir El-Rufai’s Memo – My thoughts

By Joseph Edgar… It is not as much as what he wrote but exactly the thoughts behind the memo and his expected objective. Furthermore, I am also asking myself why it was leaked to the press and the timing of the leak coinciding with the return of the President from an extended medical vacation.

The memo hit the public space with a thud. I have read its content on so many medium and remain gobsmacked by its directness, it’s quality and the perceived sincerity. If you look at the memo without considering the author you will mostly agree with most of the things that was said in it.

True the APC has mismanaged its huge political equity garnered from the general discontent with the PDP-led Jonathan administration. The APC riddled with unbridled ambition by some of its stalwarts and a seeming Presidency looking unprepared by the enormous challenge of implementing its avowed change has continued to look helpless in the face of marauding economic challenges leading to the continuous breakdown of political cohesion even within its fold. The memo according to its author was meant to wake the President up, make him smell the coffee and realize if by any chance that he was under any illusion that the honeymoon was over and that if he was to even consider reelection he would have to sit up and start real work.

On the face, this memo could be looked at from the point of a loyal party man, seeing the ship of state sailing aimlessly into political oblivion shouting and begging for it to be set aright. But the more I look, the more sinister the motive of this memo looks to me. Like I said earlier you look at the timing, the fact that it got into the hands of the media especially social media and the author.

Let me start with the author. He has been described by those who should know him very well as very ambitious and not too loyal. In his recent history, he has taken the fight to those one could safely call his mentors. From Atiku Abubakar through Obasanjo who has described him in very flowery languages and now President Buhari who until very recently appeared to be his leader. So going by his recent pedigree, one would no doubt be wary at taking this memo as an objective and legitimate cry of a loyal party man against the continued derailing of the vision.

So what exactly is the idea behind this memo and why is the author said to be out of the country on an academic sabbatical at the exact time the memo was leaked and why was it released at the point the President was coming back.

From my thinking which could verge from the mundane to extreme paranoia, El Rufai if indeed was the author of the Memo has sent a strong signal that he was cutting off from the power bloc that brought this administration into power. He would, by allowing this memo go public saying to the rest of us that he no longer has the confidence in this government especially in its ability to deliver on its electoral policy. This is a clear case of ‘I’m not there o’, especially in his own eyes he is seeing a massive electoral embarrassment just two years down the line.

Read also: Analyzing The Machiavellian Mind of Nasir El-Rufai

He has tried by this memo to achieve two things: Scream to the government in a way that they can not deny not hearing and this could be as a result of his possible freezing out in the scheme of things and also telling the public that he has detached and as such when their verdict comes during elections he would be spared.

So the next question would be how the public, the government and indeed posterity would see this action. For me, this is a classic case of political cowardice. This ‘no be me’ syndrome has continued to be the bane of our society, leading to continuous disconnect in policy formulation and execution. The erosion of cohesive political ideology that guides political actors and the public in deciding who leads us. This continuous shift in positions and alignment will remain the bane of our politics and by extension the causative factor of our seeming underdevelopment both economically and politically.

El Rufai is a bona fide member of the ruling class, both of the national elitist club of rulers and the super elitist club of northern hegemonic ruling elites who have been our masters since independence. If you study his pedigree and ascension you will see a fellow who has had more than average encouragement and support by the system to climb a very slippery ladder of political ascension. But in this his steady climb, you will also notice what is becoming a characteristic shifting in position and alignment which has now culminated in this present position.

Is El Rufai leaning towards the left or is he a rightist? This question cannot be conveniently answered and as such how do we know which side of him we will be voting for or alighning with should he throw his hat into the ring. This I must say is not his exclusive preserve. Indeed, it is the forte of all ‘serious’ thinking politicians in our country. Today the PDP has been decimated with people cross carpeting without qualms in a search for political and economic refuge in the ruling party. Some have even crossed over in a bid to escape persecution in the on-going anti-corruption battle. All these leave the electorate in a quandary for all we see are mere clay ‘footed’ demagogues parading themselves as true leaders.

The timing of this memo coming in as the President was arriving also leaves much to be desired. I would want to believe that it was aimed at piling in more pressure on a President who has been away for so long and at a time when people had started singing the praises of a deputy who has been deemed to have done well in his absence. It was also aimed at intimidating the President, playing into his insecurity and thereby pushing him if not careful to make hasty decisions that would further doom his Presidency. This was a poison chalice sent in by an esthwhie loyal aide all sugar coated in sweet words that could confuse the reader into believing that this was a genuine push to offer solutions.

I still have my doubts as to the authenticity of the memo and its authorship but even if the memo was fake, the issues raised remain cogent and real and the ascribed authorship further throws up the need for us as Nigerians to look critically beyond the facade our leaders throw up in their bid to continually enslave us while parading themselves as true leaders.

This memo has shown the nakedness of our political elites, throwing up their pretentious claim to patriotic service to the fatherland and laying bare their selfish and naked desire to hold on to power at all cost even at the expense of self mutilating and incest-like internal struggle for unending domination of our people.

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