By Adesina Soyooye
A former Minister of the Federal Capital Territory and immediate past Governor of Kaduna State, Nasir El-Rufai, has revealed that National Security Adviser, NSA, Nuhu Ribadu, is positioning himself to run for the office of the President in 2031 under the All Progressives Congress, APC.
El-Rufai, who said this in an interview Monday, February 24, with Arise Television’s Charles Aniagolu, alleged that Ribadu, a retired Assistant Inspector General of Police, AIG, has embarked on a mission to destroy others in a bid to pick the plum job in 2031.
Even though El-Rufai mentioned nobody Ribadu has so destroyed, except him, El-Rufai, speculations have been rife that he may have provided the security report cited by the Senate in refusing to clear El-Rufai when President Bola Tinubu forwarded his name as a Ministerial Nominee.
However, El-Rufai had, in the same interview, accused President Tinubu of ordering the Senate to dump him after, he, Tinubu, had promised him the position of Minister for Power, and cajoled him into appearing before the Senate for screening.
However, in the Arise interview, El-Rufai accused Ribadu of conniving with his predecessor in office, Governor Uba Sani of Kaduna State, to destroy him and position Ribadu as Tinubu’s successor in 2031.
El-Rufai’s allegation against Ribadu is not all that surprising. Nor is that of Sani. He and his successor Sani, who was his Media Adviser before he pushed him to Senate, have been having a running battle.
And, in recent weeks, Ribadu and El-Rufai, who were very close friends, and worked closely during the President Olusegun Obasanjo Government, have shown there is suddenly no love lost between them, with El-Rufai, having the upper hand in tearing at Ribadu.
While Ribadu has not given any hint of a future Presidential ambition, if he does, it wouldn’t be the first time.
Soon after he was removed as the very effective pioneer Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, and retired from the Nigerian Police, Ribadu surprisingly plunged into Politics, and was “head-hunted” by the then leader of the Action Congress of Nigeria, ACN, now President Bola Tinubu, to fly the now defunct Party’s Presidential ticket in 2011. He was, however, defeated by President Goodluck Jonathan.
Ribadu had, also, ran for the Governorship seat of his State, Adamawa, but failed.
In 2023, President Buhari reaffirmed his confidence in Ribadu when he appointed him as the National Security Adviser.
The retired Police Officer is aged 64 years now. If he does run in 2031, it would be at the age of 71 years.
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