Reno Omokri, a former presidential aide, has fiercely criticized Nasir El-Rufai, the former Governor of Kaduna State, for attacking National Security Adviser (NSA) Nuhu Ribadu over past statements about President Bola Tinubu’s alleged corruption.
In a lengthy statement on Facebook titled ‘Nasir el-Rufai Is a Drowning Man Seeking To Take Malam Nuhu Ribadu Down With Him’, Omokri described El-Rufai as a “drowning man” attempting to drag Ribadu down with him, accusing him of political bitterness following his perceived losses in Kaduna and his failed bid to secure a ministerial position.
El-Rufai recently accused Ribadu of suffering from “serious amnesia” or dishonesty after the NSA denied ever calling Tinubu corrupt during his tenure as chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
El-Rufai shared a 2007 Daily Trust report in which Ribadu commented on the fate of governors, including Tinubu, in the wake of several impeachments and corruption scandals. El-Rufai’s post came after Ribadu sent a legal notice to Hajia Naja’atu Muhammad, who had questioned the NSA’s change in stance regarding Tinubu’s corruption.
In his response, Omokri claimed that El-Rufai’s allegations were baseless, stating that Ribadu’s 2006 comments about governors were not direct accusations of corruption.
He argued that Ribadu had simply referred to the general public perception of some governors, including Tinubu, at the time, noting that it was a psychological tactic aimed at deterring corruption rather than a formal indictment.
Omokri also rejected El-Rufai’s claims about the existence of Federal Executive Council transcripts, urging the former governor to provide concrete evidence.
Omokri went on to point out El-Rufai’s own inconsistency, recalling his previous harsh criticisms of General Muhammadu Buhari, only to later become a close ally.
He accused El-Rufai of projecting his own moral flexibility onto others, asserting that his attacks on Ribadu were politically motivated.
Omokri also expressed his belief that Ribadu, known for his integrity, had never labelled Tinubu as corrupt and questioned how he could have done so while maintaining a strong political alliance with the president.
Omokri wrote: “Malam Nasir el-Rufai is frustrated. He lost out in Kaduna, where the Governor has wisely refused to be his Man Friday, and he lost out in becoming a minister after Kaduna residents raised several petitions against him for paying killer herdsmen, who perpetrated the Southern Kaduna Genocide, which rather unsurprisingly stopped as soon as Nasir left office.
“In his bitterness, he has started drowning politically, and he wants to take Malam Nuhu Ribadu, perhaps the most honest Nigerian who ever lived, a man who rejected the largest bribe in Nigeria’s history.
“If you look at the so-called evidence he displayed against Malam Ribadu, in the form of a sensational headline from 2006, it does not invalidate what Malam Ribadu said. The then Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission did not say that then-Governor Bola Tinubu was corrupt, had been investigated, found guilty, or had been indicted.
“He made a general statement about ALL serving Governors at that time, without excluding anyone. Malam Ribadu said that based on the general feeling at that time, they were lucky not to be in the same position as Governors Dariye and Alamieyeseigha. He did not say they had been investigated and found to be corrupt. He was speaking about the general perception about those Governors. Perception, as Nasir el-Rufai knows, is not reality.
“The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission was a new agency at the time of that statement in 2005/6, and the head of the Commission needed to instil the fear of God in all Governors by reminding them that the EFCC was watching.
“The Federal Bureau of Investigation also applies that psychological operations strategy, which is called a show of force. Shows of force are rhetoric or actions designed by a military or law enforcement body to instil fear of committing a crime in those vulnerable to temptation.
“Nasir el-Rufai mentioned the transcripts of the Federal Executive Council for that period, which he claims corroborate his assertions. If they exist, which they do not, then he is challenged to provide them.
“The fact is that Malam Nuhu Ribadu did not say that President Bola Tinubu was corrupt when he was the Chairman of the Economics and Financial Crimes Commission.
“And how could Nuhu Ribadu have done that and become close friends with the same Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, who engineered his emergence as the Presidential candidate of the Action Congress of Nigeria a mere four years later?
“Malam Nasir el-Rufai will have to do better than his current manipulations. On the contrary, it was he who accused General Buhari of corruption, only to turn around and become his chief vuvuzela within months.
“On October 4, 2010, Nasir el-Rufai said the following about Buhari: ‘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.
“Against all canons of legal decency, he used retroactive laws to execute three young men for drug peddling after they were convicted by a military tribunal and not regular courts of law. 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.”
“Three months after making this statement, Malam Nasir el-Rufai was kissing General Buhari’s backside.
“That is why he thinks that Nuhu Ribadu is like him. He is projecting his very low moral standards on others.”
