Malam Nasiru el-Rufa’i
was FCT minister during President Olusegun Obasanjo’s erstwhile
administration. In his book, titled Accidental Public Servant, el-Rufa’i
accused his former boss of an attempt to elongate his tenure. In his
interview with BBC Hausa programme ‘Ganenini Hanya’ he defended the
views he expressed in the book. Excerpts:
Why did you decide to publish this book?
I think it is important for someone who
has worked as a civil servant to write what he learned and to enumerate
his mistakes during his service so that those who will come after him
can learn from it. This is because the nation’s development depends on
written history. There were things which we did wrongly and there were
those we did appropriately. As human beings, we cannot escape rights and
wrongs.
In the book, there are some places in which you mentioned aspects of the inappropriate things Obasanjo did, like third term and privatisation of Transcorp. Why do you think he was wrong?
The issue of wrong deeds are replete in
the book and President Obasanjo is a human being. There is no way
somebody would lead people without making some mistakes. Even I, when I
was FCT minister, I made some mistakes, and I wrote it in the book so
that those who are coming could learn. Anybody who wants to know what I
wrote should get the book. Journalists concentrated on what Obasanjo
did wrongly as mentioned in the book and decided to ignore what he did
for the development of this country, which are also stated in that book.
Does this mean if Obasanjo at that time, was successful to go for the third time you may not have worked for him as minister?
This issue does not even arise because
in our opinion - those among us who worked with him at that time - we
believed that third term was not good for democracy in this country.
That was why many people stood against it; some in secret, others in
public. The issue of third term is very a difficult thing in this
country.
This means that you did not support it?
If you will read my book, you will see
my observations and the observations of those who were also in
government at that time - those who supported it and those who stood
against it - it is all stated in the book.
You were among those defending Obasanjo government at that time. Now, of a sudden, you are attacking what did. May we know why?
As I said, there is no way a leader can
lead without making some mistakes. For example, there is no way a
district head will lead his people for eight years without making a
mistake. Anybody who told you otherwise is just deceiving you. There
were a lot of things which President Obasanjo did which were right.
There are a lot of things he did which were wrong, and we mentioned them
in the book. This is not because you are with Obasanjo or not. It is
Nigeria we are working for, not Obasanjo or anybody. If we did the
right things, Nigeria will develop. If it is wrong, Nigeria will fail.
It is only God who is always right. Those who say what Obasanjo did was
always right are liars and those who said he was always wrong are also
liars. The fact is in the middle.
During that tenure, did you stand against decisions that you thought were wrong?
Yes, of course. We stated a lot of
things in the book. We met Obasanjo and told him that some things he did
were wrong. We did not agree with everything he did. Some he changed;
some he did not. We, as ministers, advised him and, sometimes, we
advised him and he didn’t want it. And any leader who doesn’t want to
take advise is in trouble. That is my concern because, in this country
now, if someone is the president or governor, nobody would tell him that
he is wrong. If you say this thing you did was wrong, you become an
enemy. This is not how it is supposed to be in a democratic system.
What surprises many is, why is it now that you are launching this book?
Because, first, I am a slow writer.
What I am good at is plus and minus. I am not a super writer. That is
why I spent three years writing this book. Second, those who were not in
government at that time are those who didn’t know we were always
telling our leaders that they were wrong when they were wrong.
Some of the things people believed that you did well was the issue you talked about: how Yar’adua was picked as president. You showed that it was only few people who sat and decided who would do this and who would do that, meaning that, by implications Nigeria’s democracy is something else?
You know, democracy is not something
that will be perfect in one day. It is a gradual process. In fact, the
way Nigerian leaders emerged, not even the late Yar’adua, but governors
and ministers, is just at random. Sometimes, it is perfect, sometimes
not. The reason we wrote this is for people to know what is going on and
find ways of corrections. Every country which wants to develop but
failed to give its leadership to honest and right people would fail. Our
hope is that our leaders, politicians and even the masses would think
carefully, because the masses were the ones given soaps and salt to vote
for the wrong people.
Some think that the way you have revealed what some leaders did in the past shows that you would expose those you would work with in future?
(Smiled) Government job has no secret
job. There is not supposed to be anything to hide, unless something is
wrong. You have to know that even if it didn’t come out now, one day you
would be forced to account for what you did before the Almighty God. It
has happened world over. If you stole someone would write it.
Some think that your future ambition to contest elections was what prompted you to write this book?
Do you think someone with this ambition
could write this kind of book, portraying what those considered as power
brokers did? I wrote this book because of Nigeria. I never thought I
would work for government.
If you say you are not interested in contesting then who would address these problems?
You can be in politics without
contesting for any post. At party level, for example, you can be there
to make sure the right people occupied the right places.
You decamped to the opposition party instead of the party in power?
I saw that the party was not changing.
What it wants is to cripple the country. That is why I joined Muhammad
Buhari’s party, because I think there is hope for changing the country
in the right direction.
Some think you are a very difficult person?
That is life. Those saying so have never
seen me. There are those who like you, no matter what you did. For
example, Sanusi Lamido Sanusi is my friend. We were in school together
despite what anybody says about him, I am on his side.
SundayTrust
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