Again, El-Rufai Reminded Of ‘Things He Said’ About Buhari In 2010

More reactions have continued to trail the death threat issued by Governor Nasir El-Rufai against foreign officials that attempt to intervene in Nigeria’s affairs ahead of the February 16 presidential election.

Governor El-Rufai has come under heavy criticism after he said on the National Television Authority (NTA) on Tuesday that any foreigner who comes to the country to dictate to the Federal Government how to run its affairs would be killed.

”Those that are calling for anyone to come and intervene in Nigeria, we are waiting for the person that will come and intervene. They will go back in body bags because nobody will come to Nigeria and tell us how to run our country,” the governor had said during a programme anchored by Cyril Stober on NTA.

The governor made the statement in reaction to calls by United States, United Kingdom and the European Union for President Muhammadu Buhari to follow due process in his suspension of the Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Walter Onnoghen.

But responding once again to El-Rufai’s threat, the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) said instead of “inciting violence,” the governor should channel his frustration towards President Muhammadu Buhari.

The PDP reminded the Kaduna governor how he allegedly described President Buhari as “an incompetent, old fashioned, corrupt, insensitive, parochial and tyrannical leader, who should not be voted into office” in the year 2010.

The opposition party said, “El-Rufai’s threats that members of global democratic institutions working towards peaceful 2019 general elections in our country will return in body bags, has raised new questions regarding those behind the killing of expatriates and aid workers in various troubled parts of the country.

“It is quite revealing that el-Rufai, who exposed Gen. Buhari in 2010 as ‘unelectable’ is now prancing about in defence of Buhari’s incompetent and anti-democratic administration, to the extent of issuing death threats to others, just to secure his place under a dictatorial administration.

“Governor el-Rufai had in 2010 described Gen. Buhari as ill- equipped for modern day governance. He berated Gen. Buhari of lacking capacity to comprehend current trends, to the extent that he would think that a “blackberry was a fruit”.

“In his reply to Gen. Buhari’s response to his earlier criticisms, el-Rufai 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…..

“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”.

The PDP added that, “Today, President Buhari’s inept and colossally corrupt administration has wrecked our once robust economy, divided our nation, instituted executive high-handedness, violation of human rights, incessant breach of our constitution, disobedience of court order, assaults on our democratic institutions, clamp down of the media and dissenting voices, a scenario that has brought so much pain and anguish for Nigerians.

“Governor el-Rufai’s venom should therefore be directed towards President Buhari, who has brought so much pain to Nigerians and of course himself, for his own insensitivity to Nigerians and his support for anti-democratic tendencies of the Buhari administration,” said the opposition party in statement by its National Publicity Secretary and Director of Media and Publicity of its Presidential Campaign Organization, Mr Kola Ologbondiyan.