By Adesina Soyooye
“For the attention of the pathetic characters that don’t sleep well whenever I am in Nigeria, take notice that I intend to return in time for the launch of Pres IBB’s memoirs”
The immediate past Governor of Kaduna State, Malam Nasir El-Rufai, has made an astonishing disclosure.
El-Rufai who has been having a verbal running battle with President Bola Tinubu’s Aides over his criticisms of the Administration, in a post on his X platform,Tuesday morning, alleged that he has been informed that there of a plan to arrest him, throw him into a dungeon in the NSA’s office, and torture him. He, also, alleged they want intimidate him and force him into a self imposed exile. But he has an answer to that – a capital NEVER. Instead, he says he has decided to put on hold his academic pursuits and the learning of foreign languages, and stay in Nigeria more often than before.
El-Rufai disclosed that the plan to do him in was revealed to him by his ally – Imran Wakili – who he threw under the bus by revealing his identity. The implication, a number of people think, is that Wakili could be asked to explain how and provide proof.
However, El-Rufai says he is not afraid of anybody or anything or even death. Like Julius Ceaser, he said death will come when it will come. “We depend on no one but Allah. We always hope for the best but plan for the worst. He said he had been detained three times, but won’t give anybody the satisfaction of going on exile like he had once done.
To confirm his decision, he has put whoever on notice that he would be home soon to attend the launch of former President Ibrahim Babangida’s memoirs scheduled for February 20, 2025.
El-Rufai disclosed all these in a letter he wrote to Wakili, his ally and “informant” which he aptly titled: “DON’T WORRY, BE HAPPY. WHAT WILL BE WILL BE”
Following is the full text of El-Rufai’s statement posted on his X platform Tuesday, February 11, 2025. It was addressed to Wakili.
‘DON’T WORRY, BE HAPPY. WHAT WILL BE WILL BE’
“Dear Imran @IU_Wakilii,
“Your post below refers. I have been hearing these same rumors of arrest, detention and torture in some dungeon in the NSA’s office (where Emefiele was allegedly tortured to resign as CBN governor), since July 2024 when the so-called report of the Kaduna Assembly began circulating.
“They freaked out when we challenged the legality of the premeditated defamation, and went to every length to compromise the judicial process, and this is continuing at the Court of Appeal.
“They have sent such similar messages of intimidation and threats through many of my friends, family and political associates because they want me to go on self-imposed exile.
“I will not.
“I have now put all my previous academic and language-learning plans on hold and will spend more time in Nigeria than ever before. Silence is no longer golden. Inaction has never been an option.
“The arrest, detention and torture of perceived political enemies are nothing new in human affairs. I have been arrested and detained thrice in the past for expressing my views of previous governments.
“There is always a morning after the arrest or detention or torture, and political life continues. As for death, it is when Allah destines it, and it is ultimate the date of every human.
“For the attention of the pathetic characters that don’t sleep well whenever I am in Nigeria, take notice that I intend to return in time for the launch of Pres IBB’s memoirs, in sha Allah, scheduled for 20th February.
“We depend on no one but Allah. We fear no mortal but Almighty Allah. We always hope for the best but plan for the worst.
“Thanks @IU_Wakilii for your concern, but, remember that what will be, will always be.”
Instructively, El-Rufai and the National Security Adviser, NSA, Nuhu Ribadu were very close friends. They worked together, especially, during the President Olusegun Obasanjo’s PDP Government. At the time, Ribadu was the founding Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, and El-Rufai, the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, FCT.
El-Rufai is, also, a founding member of the All Progressives Congress, and led a delegation of APC Governors in the North to former President Muhammadu Buhari to impress it on him that the APC must zone its Presidential ticket to the South. That was what gave birth to the Tinubu Presidency.
Things, however, went awry when the Senate rejected to clear El-Rufai’s nomination by Tinubu as a Cabinet Minister. It is said that he allegedly holds Tinubu and Ribadu responsible for his humiliation by the Senate.
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