I’m Not Bothered About Second Term In Office -El-Rufai

Agency ReporterMarch 2, 2018

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Governor Nasir el-Rufai of Kaduna State, yesterday, said he was not bothered about the second term in office, stressing that posterity will judge him on his ongoing efforts to transform the state.

Speaking in Ilorin, Kwara State capital, El-Rufai also described the emergence and attainment of the power of the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC, in 2015 as a “miracle.”He said the emergence of the APC and it’s clinching on to power in less than four years of its formation was a miracle and that the party would repeat the same feat in any election.

The governor spoke while delivering the maiden public lecture of Al-Hikmah University, Ilorin, entitled,”Governing Justly: Perspectives From Near & Far With Lessons From Nigeria.” The governor said at 58, he was not looking for any job, saying cancelling what he was doing in Kaduna today will be politically costly for any administration that comes after his to do because of their nature.

He added that he is not bothered about agitation for the second term in office, hence he is taking well-grounded decisions that would stand the test of time.

El-Rufai also boasted that there was no threat to the success of the party ahead of the 2019 general elections in the state and beyond because, according to him, the party has no formidable opposition that could stop it.

The governor said many people that voted for the APC in 2015 voted for the party “because they were tired of the PDP. Many people voted not really for APC but against PDP,” he said.

The governor labelled those agitating within the party as “rascals, trouble-makers and noisemakers,” who only wanted the party to continue in the PDP ways of sharing money.

He said: “The APC has no opposition, the opposition we have is no opposition because the opposition is within the APC, there are many unhappy people, we also have many rascals, troublemakers and noisemakers.

“They are simply disgruntled because they are used to the PDP ways of doing things: every month give me money, Paris Club is here, where is my money? They will remain in opposition until you have a way to alienate them.”

The governor blamed the elite for the challenges confronting Nigerians because of what he described as the craze for “elite’s entitlements and selfish interests.” “The Nigerian elite is corrupt, selfish, self-centred and largely divided. Like I said, there is a need for a consensus of the Nigerian elite,” the governor said.

On the recent religious crisis that broke out in the state, the governor said 15 persons have lost their lives to the crisis while 45 were injured.

He traced the genesis of the crisis to the case of a Christian girl who was dating a Muslim guy and wanted to convert to Islam because he wanted to marry him, a development which he said sparked off the crisis.