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There’s no arguing the fact that the former minister of the Federal Capital Territory and the two-term governor of Kaduna State, Mallam Nasir El-Rufai, is a political extrovert.
He’s not known to be silent when he should be talking and more often than not, he attracts a lot of criticism more for his manner of expressions than the import of his message. And this has made many quickly dismiss him as an arrogant politician with enough baggage and braggadocio. So when he announced to the world, his already predictable exit from the very party he joined others to birth, the APC, and the many rigmarole reasons he gave, many easily dismissed the move as that of an ambitious and angry politician, who is trying to survive the uncomfortable spaces outside political power and influence.
But Mallam is not alone in this power game that often makes Nigerian politicians jump from one political nest to another, being made possible by the fluidity and inorganic nature of the political parties themselves, at the slightest opportunity.
From his days in the PDP, CPC, APC and now SDP, El-Rufai seems to be seeking and searching for political relevance at the very top echelon of power, the very reason he cannot afford to be ignored or sidelined by forces detrimental to his political ambition.
Arguably, aside from former President Buhari, no northern politician seems to command his kind of clout among the “Talakawas”, no thanks to his regional and religious dispositions and personally assertive idiosyncrasies. His anger against the present arrangement of which he was a vital part from the onset, is well known. His unique role and louder voice amongst his contemporaries to ensure that power goes back to the South was commendable and noticeable among his political class. Yet, the fact that he was not carried along after an open promise by President Tinubu is something any Fulani man will not forget or forgive. Little wonder that he pitched his tent with a lowly Party like the SDP, where he can be free to get his pound of flesh.
Many have interpreted this to mean a deliberate journey to self immolation and political extinction. Reason being that he should have chosen to remain in the APC’s octopus nest while waiting for the right season to exhale.
But El-Rufai is not that type. He shoots straight from the hips, no matter the target. He has declared an open war, first with his erstwhile friend, Nuhu Ribadu, whom he accused of overshadowing every Northern politician, with the influence of President Tinubu, to gain political visibility come 2031. Yet, Ribadu refused to go into the mud with him.
Then again he has declared an open war with the ruling APC. This, many have taken to be a possible covert orchestration of the powers that be to destabilize the opposition by planting moles within their various political camps.
Those who knew El-Rufai knows he cannot accept playing such second fiddle to anyone, to the detriment of his avowed ambition to be relevant at the highest level, in the scheme of things.
But the ambition of galvanizing the opposition against the status quo by El-Rufai and his co-travellers is truly a tall one. This is so because the quantum of resources available to an incumbent in a nation like ours, is enormous, not to talk of the propensity to deploy such humongous resources for coercion. But in politics, anything is possible. Especially in our clime, where everything and anything has a price tag.
Mallam Nasir El-Rufai is crying very loudly. And he’s doing it very early, too. With his domestic baggage and failed relationships with his benefactor at home and his unenviable security record during his tenure, one has a reason to doubt his capacity to galvanize a national movement to unseat the incumbent.
Nevertheless, if for anything, the diminutive Mallam has the unalienable right to fight the fight for his political relevance and survival.