How The Persecution Began - Letter To Pres. Yar`Adua In November 2007

30th November, 2007 Mallam Umaru Musa Yar’Adua, GCFR President, Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Nigeria State House Abuja Your Excellency, Sir RE: REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE ON THE REVIEW OF REVOKED TITLES OF PLOTS IN THE FCT BETWEEN 2004 AND 2007 BackgroundMy attention has been drawn to the forenamed report submitted to Mr. President the contents of which have been circulating in the media for sometime now. The report sought the approval of the President on various issues related to land administration for the period stated – which is without any doubt my tenure as Minister of FCT from 16th July 2003 through to May 29, 2007. I wish to state that though the report contained serious allegations against my person and office, cast slight on actions I took and sought to represent me as an inconsistent and even hypocritical public officer, no documents were pr...Read the full article.

[CIkpatt]

Others may have the patience to read the convoluted epistle, but I don't.

Demand for accountability, NOT PERSECUTION, began when Nigerians wanted (and still want) explanations concerning your stint at the BPE. It is okay for Nigerians and government to demand for accountability without having to endure high drama and persecution complex explained.

Let's start from your controversial roles in the BPE and come to the MFCT later.

[changenigeriamovement]

Before you go on another mile in pursuit of your presidentail ambition which you are entitled to, can you please publish the criteria for land allocation in Abuja. Your bahaviour is another evidence of the disdain that members of the ruling class have for ordinary Nigerians. You recently met with one of the most hated Nigerians, Obasanjo, and you want any person t o think you are serious with your once in a month releases from your bunker at Harvard University? Get a life.

[RAHIM]

Originally Posted by Robot

]I have made other comments and suggestions in the course of this long letter which should be read along with the foregoing. In conclusion, Mr. President, my intention as mentioned in the beginning is to put the records straight and to explain some of the actions I took as FCT Minister. Had the current FCT Minister respected the basic rule of natural justice even if he had no access to me, this letter would not have been necessary. I have made my successor understand that I am always willing and available to shed light on my stewardship as the Minister of FCT, but he has not utilized the opportunity except on one or two trivial matters. This letter has therefore been copied to him to provide the opportunity to contradict with facts and documents any claims I have made here which are not true.[/URL]

Is this a joke or what? You have been called over so many times to explain the rationale behind your actions while in office and all you came up with were excuses until you decided on a 'self imposed' exile. Well, we'll see how long you can last out there as a 'commoner' after being a 'kingmaker' back in Nigeria.

[akuluouno]

Esteemed Villagers,

Dear Nasir,

Please do take it easy. I know the catharsis that follows sudden exit from position of authority especially MFCT from Nigeria. Your epistles will not do the complete therapy but it will go a long way.

I think it is high time Nigerians start examining those whom we give authority over our lives. Basic administrative experience and good standing in the art of management are very crucial. Not to talk of the personality of the individual.
I have thoroughly gone through your essay from the genesis where you assumed that anyone who has access to your bedroom is your friend (ask Ironsi wrt Danjuma) to the revelation where you want Mr President to read this encyclopaedia-like defence ad nauseam of yours and to say that it looks like the rantings of a nostagic former powerful man in exile
In Nigeria you have been presaged, that is if you are good, with your history of Nigeria

[ajimoh]

Originally Posted by CIkpatt

Others may have the patience to read the convoluted epistle, but I don't.

Demand for accountability, NOT PERSECUTION, began when Nigerians wanted (and still want) explanations concerning your stint at the BPE. It is okay for Nigerians and government to demand for accountability without having to endure high drama and persecution complex explained.

Let's start from your controversial roles in the BPE and come to the MFCT later.

CIkpatt,

You have no time to read what he has written here? Fine, but how then would you be able to respond to the man if he were to provide a detailed explanation of his stewardship at the BPE? You also forget that what you have here is a reproduction of a letter he had written to the President in 2007! Why do we want to condemn a man without listening to him first? I watched the proceedings before the Senate and would rather the author addressed us on the issue of revocations from others and allocation of same to immediate members of his family. That is really what I intend to take him up on someday, because I listened to him rhetorically asking whether members of his family had no rights [as Nigerians] to have land allocated to them too; a position which I found rather bullish, defensive and insulting to common-sense! There are things we do whilst in authority to benefit our families and cronies, which are really indefensible and reeks conflicts of interests and I expected a man like him to have admitted that, on reflection, those instances were regrettable! His defence before the Senate, when taken up on the issue of allocations to his family members, reminds me of the contemptuous response of Reuben Abati [via proxies] concerning the suspicious allocations from Aliyu Modibbo Umar, former Minister of FCT, to him, Farida Waziri and other journalists, to wit that after all they paid for the land!

I hope Nasir would take you up on your offer and provide a similarly detailed account of his stewardship at the BPE. Hopefully, you will have the time to read that. On the other hand, since you opine that his time at the BPE was controversial, why don't you regale us with what you know about his time there that was so controversial. I am sure that should prompt an appropriate response from the gentleman. I look forward to your response.

[S. Njokede]

The single fact that El-Rufai bunched up together with the cabals to expunge president Yaradua´s name from the list of corrupt ex-governors and made him president via corruptly arranged election, is enough to send El-Rufai direct to hell with no chance of purgatory.

Every time El-Rufai points one finger in the direction of making him a stand-up man free from his past negligence and corrupt culpabilities, there are four fingers pointing in another direction in making him a fall guy; who is not less corrupt than president Yaradua. I could still remember vividly how El-Rufai failed to honour summons to come to court. He become a pocket seize dictator in aping Obasanjo in the outlaw life of dodging court and living untouchable like some sacred cow in India. Now same El-Rufail wrote to Yaradua: "Mr. President, the answer is simple - civilized people go to court." In deed El-Rufai?

I hear El-Rufai met Obasanjo in the US lately. And the same Obasanjo has no scruples meeting with Yaradua who´s Rufai´s nemesis recently in Ogun state when he visited governor Gbenga. Obasanjo is a double agent. All attempts by Rufai aimed at freeing and excusing OBJ from corruption and criminal culpability are precious wast of time. And I ask Rufai: are you aware that your role model president Obasanjo, sexed his sons´wife?

Even so, I thank Rufai for his generousity in exposing Yaradua. But one has to as well intone that it´s because Yaradua has refused to carry Rufai along hence these revelations. You all are reekingly corrupt from root to branch. Thank you once again for the revelations: with such like El-Rufai, who needs the Freedom of Information Bill passed into law?

[Onari]

Dear El Rufai,

Please save us the agony of your long epistle and stories about you, OBJ and the gang - I am really tired of them

Go back to Nigeria and defend yourself. If you guys did a great job according to the constitution of Nigeria as you claim, there wont be need for you to be scared of, to go back to your own country to answer to your accusers in a court of law rather than been in self imposed exile.

Fighting for your right in the comfort of another man's shore is no more fashionable. Please go home and do the needful-defend yourself. You are still innocent until found guilty.

[BiafranPrincess]

Please could someone tell Mallam Nasir that he's no longer dealing with naive fools in Nigeria. We are slowly evolving to advance citizenry and his hogwash aint gonna fly, no sirrrre!!!!

Stop the pity party already, Mallam Rufai. We don't care about your personal in fights with the 'best president' you drafted. YOU, Rufai are part of the problem of Nigeria today so don't recreate a history that is partial to your image....that era of foolery is long gone with IBB.

For some reason, I suspect that he is required to write these self-pitying epistles as part of his course requirement at Harvard!

[Observer]

I find Nasir's attitude rather strange because he was given an ample opportunity to defend himself before the Senate Committee on the FCT. While there, he displayed so much arrogance that it became nauseating to most Nigerians.

Secondly, he has been given the opportunity to have his day in court which he is not utilizing.

Mallam Nasir, the game of politics is like a contact sport, the closer you are to your opponent, the better your chances of beating him. You cannot win your 'war' from abroad, please come home and defend your name. A lot of people are beginning to think that you are a COWARD!!!

[Igboamaeze]

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Great Villagers, may your barn increase and may El Rufai's ill-gotten landed properties be revoked and alloted to each and everyone of you and your children born and unborn. May his banks - foreign and local - fall victim to the combined assualt of Maddoff, Nwude and Lawrence Aninih. May those who are managing his loot for him dupe him and may you dupe them in return in the true spirit of possessing your possessions.

May God almighty continue to cause them to expose themselves for you to see the fallacy and farce that was packaged as "reforms", due process and "anti-corruption". By His grace, soon, we will be able to connect the dots and see the charade that they called ant-corruption. If the best pal of a celebrated anti-corruption czar is a thoroughly corrupt theif; and his god father is an irredeemable sadist, tyrant, looter, dictator and maniac; may God grant us the commonsense to see that the so-called czar could not be better than the company he keeps.

May His light shine upon us...

[Dapxin]

shey na dis yaradua go read this long one of a letter or im late brother?

If he ever reads this much, the job no go hard am do as is.

I go try sha.

[olubadan]

It a shame you now have a platform to propagate your self-servicing agenda’s…It appears you are still struggling with the hangover/nostalgia of power you once held. Your frustration is understandable you probably jumping buses/cabs now...

How distasteful I found your article,the role you played in undermining/ suppressing the collective will of the Nigerian people is the greatest disservice anybody can do to is country…… This wrong in my view you can never correct no matter how hard you try to justify the unjustifiable.

[i-go-better]

El-Rufai and Nuhu Ribadu in the hands of a disciplined, courageous, incorruptible leader like Buhari could be the great foot-soldiers Nigeria desperately need for her total sanitization.

Unfortunately, the crudest, meanest, most hypocritical leader Nigeria had the misfortune of producing, O.Obasanjo indoctrinated them first. The fetish umbilical cord inextricably linking them to this their tin-god will continue to damage their reputation perhaps irretrievably.

No amount of spin-doctoring from El-Rufai or Ribadu would change this opinion because the scars from the wounds of their yesterday are still fresh and alive with salt being added everyday!

Yaradua and Iwu are the symbolic landmarks.

[K_Station]

Mallam El-Rufai,
I had the patience to read your ‘convoluted epistle’, and I want to thank you for posting this letter.

Nigeria at least since the last two decades has been in the throes of arguably one of the most complex forms of systematic corruption, and no one single issue reflects this more than the issue of land and land allocation in Abuja. The frustration of many Nigerians today is a reflection of the unprecedented hopes we all had in the Obasanjo administration to turn things around for good, not just in Abuja but in virtually every area of our national life. What apparently many may not have taken the time to contemplate is how deep and pervasive the rot is, what it will take to turn things around and the potential cost to the foot soldiers.

The only person that will hold the position of the FCT Minister and come out unscathed under the currently horridly corrupt system is the one who simply chop and clean mouth and allows business as usual, or in the words of Sarah Palin, a “dead fish who simply goes with the flow”. The safest and easiest path to take in Nigeria today is to go with the flow, the current persecution of you and Mallam Ribadu is a testimony to the fact that you took the fight to the real enemies of Nigeria, even if you were not very successful. You and a few other technocrats in the past administration are like good tools in the hands of a terminally sick man (the sick man representing a system that is massively corrupted from top to bottom, including law enforcement, civil service, and the political elite). Against your current travails though, the truth remains the best defence.

Good luck in your endeavours!

[10Kobo]

It was a very painful experience..............reading this very long story! But l did!!

First, this was a letter addressed to the President, by a former Minister?
Secondly, this was a 'reproduction' of a letter written as far back as 2007...to Mr. Prez?

What is still baffling me is WHY and WHEN did we "ordinary citizens" become so esteemed, as to partake and share in the missives between such powerful men?
I couldn't recall the last time, when Mallam Rufai was basking in "raw power", that he attempted to make us privy of his "tete-a-te" with former Prez Obasanjo? Why now?

Again, since Yar'adua has been served this letter before, why again?
And should you need to punish the man by forcing him to read it again, why not just post it directly to Aso Rock? Why display it on "our forum"......where the oppressed rant and rave? Or are you one of us now?!

Hmmm.....Nasir, would you not have better served your interest if you obeyed court summons (remember that "civilized people go to court" mantra!) and act civilized, when given the opportunity?
What do you hope to achieve by writing the President through "our forum"? Are you now one of us? Since when??

Okay, if you want to come clean with "the Nigerian masses", fair enough but you will have to write us our own "LETTER"............minus all those "Obasanjo was my witness, my brain-box or my backbone" stuffs, that doesn't cut any ice around here!

By the way, lets assume a Primary School Teacher "won the lottery" and got allocated a p;ot of land in Abuja, by your "legal and factual" calculations, she is expected to develop and build within two years? And if she cant, you are "legally and factually" required to revoke the allocation (but morally criminal!) and re-assign the plot to who? Your daughter? Huh??
I hope we meet on the "Train" one of these days, l have my questions concerning the "stripping, cannibalization and eventual off-loading, at rock-bottom price, of NITEL, Ajaokuta and some other "inheritance of the masses", under your watch as Bureau of Public Enterprise Chairman, to cronies, to discuss with you.
I will also want your contributions/opinions if you dont mind, on that "TransCorp" matter :d
Goodluck and how is Acada?

10Kobo
"Power, is truly Transient"!..and "the Evil that men do.....

BTW: Between Ajimoh and K-Station,

What apparently many may not have taken the time to contemplate is how deep and pervasive the rot is, what it will take to turn things around and the potential cost to the foot soldiers.

Who are the foot soldiers TRYING TO TURN THINGS AROUND? Rufai??
...AND TO WHOSE BENEFIT? His family members?? C'mmon, dont rub salt on the injury pls.

[Dapxin]

I'm not a bad guy! I work hard, and I love my kids. So why should I spend half my Sunday hearing about how I'm going to Hell?

gr8 quote. I just spotted that. specially when there is smoothJazz music + sleep + fried snails (+sex if you do that x2 game) and deep+thinking the son of man could spend his time on....

[Enyi]

I am perplexed that instead of El-Rufai appearing in court to clear his name, he is "bombarding" the news media with his own account of events. Is this a reflection of his contempt of, or lack of faith in, our legal system? For his information- every coin has two sides. He should therefore expect that most people will not declare him a persecuted innocent lamb without the benefit of having the details of FGN's case against him. In any case, what does he want President Yar`Adua to do- scuttle the judicial process?

[kalu31]

he that comes to equity must come with clean hands.

i recall how Obasanjo complained about SAP that it must have have a "human face", well he got the presidency and the rest they say is history.

then Nasir persucted Atiku, now he is being persucuted.


Nasir, enough already!

[Kay Soyemi (Esq.)]

Again, we have Nigerians looking at the messenger rather than the message.

Nasir is no fool and that he chooses NVS to share details of missives in the corridor of power, I respect.

Seriously, how many of you guys asking him to have his day in the Nigerian courts or legal system have enough trust in the NPF and the Law Courts?

Were these not the same institutions that failed woefully to effectively punish the likes of Igbinedion, Alams, Dariye, Tafa Balogun et al? Are these not the same institutions that has failed to prosecute the likes of Ibori, Kalu, Odili, Ladoja, Rev Jolly Nyame, the Sharia Guv whose name I can't recall presently and a countless others? Or, were these not the same law courts that have been voiding several instances of the combined results that produced UMYA but failed to see anything wrong in the whole picture?

Please get real and look at the message, convoluted as it may be, again. He who fights and run away; that is Nasir's mantra now and it gives us rare and much needed glimpses into how Nigeria works or otherwise.

Accept that Nasir may have goofed, but he is pandering to the courts of public opinion which is less forgiving rather than responding to an already corrupt Nigerian legal system.

That, for me, can only be good. Look at the message, not the messenger for if you fail to diagnose the problem, you'll never be able to proffer a lasting solution.