QUESTION: First el-Rufai’s letter, now Sanusi’s warning. Should Buhari rejig his inner circle?
“Your worst enemy could be your best friend, and your best friend your worst enemy.”
That is a line in the song ‘Who the Cap fits’ by music immortal, Bob Marley.
The song accents the fickle, vacillating and treacherous nature of humans. Sometimes, we can tag our enemies by a drawn line of discord, but most times, we cannot pick them out of a pool of pretentious friends in seraphic raiment.
However, “enemy”, with respect to a foe, is not the focus of this analysis.
Recently, some influential Nigerians have called on President Muhammadu Buhari to look within his cockpit because some of his auxiliaries are doing him a disservice.
Last Thursday, Sahara Reporters, an online news medium, published a memo by Nasir el-Rufai, Kaduna state governor, in which he adumbrated steps Buhari must take to redeem his government.
In the jarring memo, el-Rufai accused some of Buhari’s close aides of being selfish, inexperienced, and of dutifully chalking up enemies for him.
“In very blunt terms, Mr President, our APC administration has not only failed to manage expectations of a populace that expected overnight ‘change’ but has failed to deliver even mundane matters of governance outside of our successes in fighting Boko Haram insurgency and corruption,” he said in the 30-page document.
“This situation is compounded by the fact that some officials around you seem to believe and may have persuaded you that current APC state governors must have no say and must also be totally excluded from political consultations, key appointments and decision-making at the federal level.
“These politically-naive ‘advisers’ fail to realise that it is the current and former state governors that may, as members of NEC of the APC, serve as an alternative locus of power to check the excesses of the currently lopsided and perhaps ambivalent NWC.”
This is stupefying because el-Rufai, is perhaps, one of Buhari’s staunchest allies. The question still is, who are Buhari’s real enemies? Are they his ardent critics or are they those in propinquity?
Also, on Wednesday, Isa Misau, a senator from Borno state and member of the APC, “ululated” on the floor of the upper legislative chamber that the enemies of the president were encamped around him.
He was reacting to Hameed Ali’s spurning of the senate’s invitation when he let out the bellow.
“So many times we stand here to see that there are people within the presidency who don’t want the president to succeed and it is coming out clearly,” he said.
“If you look at the kind of advice people close to the government are giving to the presidency, you will know that they are trying to distract the president from working.
“The president went on leave to attend to his health for about 49 days. Did you hear about Niger Delta Avengers? Did you hear about Fulani herdsmen? Did you hear of any media attack? Do you hear of any tension in the country?
“Now just two weeks that the president is back, the people surrounding the president are creating tension. The enemies of this government are very close to the government, they are very close the president.
“I therefore call on the Nigerians to pray for the president.”
And on Friday, Muhammad Sanusi II, emir of Kano, described the president’s praise singers as the enemies of his government.
He said the “people in government” were hedged about by enemies.
“The praise singers around the President Muhammadu Buhari are the real enemies of the government who could destroy his efforts,” Sanusi said.
“I feel sorry for the people in government because they are surrounded by enemies. The president needed people who will tell him where he goes wrong. I knew power was transient; I spoke the truth during my time at the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), no matter the consequences.
“Some were afraid to speak out against evil because they were afraid of losing their jobs. All the people they were afraid of years ago, where are they today? For those who are still in power, remember that it is transient, If you want to be a true Nigerian, tell the present government where they’re going wrong.”
So, have Buhari’s trusted allies turned into his enemies, or the situation is being misunderstood? Should the president ignore the warnings or take action? What should Buhari do?
I voted, campaigned and fought for Bihari to come to power but was disappointed to later realized that I have been lied to by APC’s claims, being led by Timubu. Now I see the light, Buhari is more or less an illiterate.