Buhari's Decision To Run Causes Elrufai Panic in Elrufai's Camp

It appears there is trouble in paradise as Major General Buhari's decision to contest the 2015 election has set him on a collision course with his new found protege, controversial minister of the FCT, Malam Nasir Elrufai.

As it turns out, Buhari's decision to contest has caused a notorious Elrufai loyalist, Salisu M. Lukman to write an open letter to Buhari discouraging him from running. Nigerians may recall that the important Northern daily, Daily Trust ran a headline on its Sunday Trust edition revealing that Malam Elrufai had set up the machineries for his 2015 run on the platform of the CPC on the belief that Buhari would keep to his word not to contest.

The story released on Sunday Trust on the 1st of April 2012 with the title '2015 presidency: Campaign for el-Rufai begins in CPC' quoted Alhaji Salihu as confirming the Elrufai run.

Confirming this to Sunday Trust on phone on Saturday, one of the coordinators, Alhaji Isa Salihu Nataro, said the decision to set up campaign structures for the realization of el-Rufai’s presidential ambition became necessary in view of his contributions so far in the efforts to bring the country out of its numerous problems caused by poorleadership.

“Let me be frank with you, we did not consult him before we embarked on this project because we didn’t think that we needed his approval before he could accept to help his country out of the unnecessary problems overzealous politicians have plunged it into. He is one of the few personalities in this country that are passionate about this country. Even our respected leader, General Muhammadu Buhari sees these qualities in him and that is why he enjoys his attention and support,” he said

But the decision to contest by Buhari may have caused panic in the Elrufai camp and many believe that the open letter below by SM Lukman was instigated by his boss Elrufai. Nigerians interested in connecting the relation between Lukman and Elrufai may want to do a google search on both names.

It is interesting that many Buhari loyalist have long held the view that Malam Elrufai does not really support Buhari believing rather that Elrufai found Buhari a convenient host to latch on to after he was spurned by the PDP. Buhari right hand man, Buba Galadima, the Secretary General of the CPC has long held this view especially after the comments made by Elrufai on the person of Buhari in 2010 which in part stated "Mallam El-Rufai wishes to remind General Buhari that he has remained perpetually unelectable because his record as military head of state, and afterwards, is a warning that many Nigerians have wisely heeded. His insensitivity to Nigeria’s diversity and his parochial focus are already well-known. In 1984, Buhari allowed 53 suitcases belonging to his ADC’s father to enter Nigeria unchecked at a time the country was exchanging old currency for new. Against all canons of legal decency, he used retroactive laws to execute three young men for drug-peddling after they were convicted by a military tribunal and not regular courts of law. Buhari was so high handed that he gave himself and his officials immunity even from truthful reporting. That obnoxious Decree 4, against which truth was no defence, was used to jail journalists and attempt to cow the media as a whole. That tyrannical legislation shows the essence of his intolerance. These are facts of recent history.

The story of counter-trade and import licensing, the cornerstone of Buhari’s stone-age economic strategy and those whose interests it served, is a tale for another day"