El-rufai’s Alignments: A Body Bag! -By Tife Owolabi

In a warm-up to the general election in 2019,Mr Nasir El-Rufai told foreign powers coming to observe the exercise may leave Nigeria in body bags.

According to the former  Kaduna state governor, any “foreign powers” who may have been engaged by some politicians to interfere with the Nigerian general elections to jettison the idea because “they would go back in body bags.” while speaking on an NTA Live programme.

Mr El-rufai was reacting to statements made by the United States, European Union and the United Kingdom who showed doubts, saying the coming elections in Nigeria may not be credible. They accused the executive arm of the Nigerian government of undermining the democratic tenets and principle of separation of powers, citing the recent suspension of Justice Walter Onnoghen as the Chief Justice of Nigeria, CJN, by President Muhammadu Buhari.

But, disagreeing with them, the governor, who said Nigeria is an independent country, also added that nobody would come to Nigeria and tell her what to do or how to run her affairs.

According to the governor, “Those that are calling for anyone to come and intervene in Nigeria, we are waiting for the person that would come and intervene, they would go back in body bags.”

“Nobody will come to Nigeria and tell us how to run our country. We have got our independence and we are trying to run our country as decently as possible and we know the history of those countries that are trying to teach us.

“We know their history, we also know their stages of development and they went through these challenges. So, please, let us work together, let us challenge one another, but don’t lecture us.” Today, the same person with others is forming alliances probably to capture power in 2027 and he expects the foreign power to go to sleep over his utterance to send them home in body bags.

Fast-forward to 2023, El-Rufai was nominated as Minister by President Bola Tinubu
but he couldn’t scale through due to protests, petitions and security reasons to say he was considered a political flight risk.

It is puzzling to note that Political actors, particularly in our clime is that they have an appetite for elephants but reason like ants. El-Rufai’s alignment with other politicians to capture power in 2027 seems unrealistic, given his past.

He should ask himself why his nomination as a Minister by President Bola Tinubu was rejected by the Directorate State Service, DSS, and the protests and petitions that greeted it. The truth is or was that he is deemed a risk because of his utterance among many factors. A Tinubu who is trying to please the Liberal oligarchy and get legitimacy on a sham election  can not accommodate such baggage in his fold. It is suicidal and no flight for any political actor who seeks to please the Landlords of the common estate.

Does it occur to us why someone with a credible resume as Peter Obi couldn’t garner the support of the British and American governments in his ambition to rule this country? He is an anti-liberal. Mr Obi preaches China’s idealogy which is inimical to the global North. And  If one with fewer pieces of baggage on the free enterprise can not be supported by the Nigerian state Landlords is it the one who promised to send foreigners back in body bags that they hand over this country to?

Punch Newspaper on the 8th of January, 2025 reported that Key political figures, including former Kaduna State Governor Nasir El-Rufai and allies of ex-Vice President Atiku Abubakar, held a private meeting with the leadership of the Social Democratic Party in Abuja on Tuesday.

The closed-door meeting, which took place at the SDP national secretariat, has sparked speculations about potential political realignments ahead of the 2027 general elections.

Among the notable attendees were  Maj. Hamza Al-Mustapha is an ex-presidential candidate and former Chief Security Officer to the late Gen Sani Abacha and Atiku’s former spokesman, Otunba Segun Showunmi.

Although the specific agenda of the meeting was not disclosed, it is being described as part of a broader strategy to forge alliances among opposition figures to present a formidable challenge to President Bola Tinubu in the next election cycle.

While I may agree with alignment and alliance to provide alternatives to the current state of Nigeria’s economy, the storm gathering as described by Seun Okibaloye during Politics Today on Wednesday shows rooting for regime change may storm in the teacup if it is the emblem of El-rufai on it.

I doubt if it can’t fly even if Elon Musk is to supply them with his turbo engine or Starlink network. The man is just a hard sell. In politics, a “hard sell” refers to a policy, idea, or proposal that is difficult to convince people to accept or support. It’s often used to describe a contentious or unpopular issue that faces significant opposition or scepticism.While it is laudable to provide an alternative to this regime approach of “Renewed Hope” agenda that is showing the masses shege Promax, Mr El-rufai’s alignment and alliance may end up in the body bag because no landlords of the Nigerian state can hand over power to him or his pack. Mr Nasir Elrufai may end up as a wind chaser!

Tife Owolabi writes from Yenagoa, Bayelsa and he is a Researcher in Political Science.