“Good governance, progress, or development, is only incremental and not automatic.” —Ebuka Onyekwelu
Nasir El Rufai, former Governor of Kaduna State on the platform of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) for two terms of 8 years, has finally left his party after weeks of trolling both the party and the president. This must not come as a surprise. Most Nigerian politicians would do same therefore it must also not been construed as some form of patriotic gesture. El Rufai, had been in power since 1999 when he was appointed as the Director of the Bureau of Public Enterprise. Then in 2003, he became the FCT Minister and served till President Obasanjo’s exit from office. The political alignment in 2010/2011 when he returned from his self-imposed exile did not feature him, he then fully pitched his tent with the opposition and supported General Buhari’s CPC in the 2011 Presidential Election. From there, he joined the formation of the APC in 2013 and in 2015 was elected Kaduna State Governor and served till 2023. Today, he is dazzling some Nigerians who are in perpetual search for redeemers.
Yet, from El Rufai’s political trajectory, it is observable that the only time a government is doing well is when he was a part of that government. It is, therefore, not out of place to arrive at a measured conclusion that El Rufai, like many Nigerian public servants, is only loyal to his unquenchable thirst for proximity to power. If some Nigerians had not begun to misrepresent former power holders who transition to emergency activists, as lovers of good governance and apostles of the masses, their newfound advocacy would have been finely confined as mere political shenanigans or some odd comedy show. This repeats all the time. A politician who has been out-schemed suddenly transforms into an advocate for ‘truth’ and ‘justice’, and becomes a good governance preacher. Just why they were not as concerned, when they were in charge and could make a direct impact that would shape and benefit the people, has continued to be lost on many.
It bears repeating that El Rufai’s grouse is that he was not cleared to become Minister in Tinubu’s government. To make matters worse, Tinubu did not intervene on his behalf despite his support to him during electioneering campaign. This is similar to Amaechi’s grumble which is that he lost the APC presidential ticket to Tinubu. The underlying factor is the thinking that they were the needed missing link to fix Nigeria or the government. Nigerian leaders, it does appear, once they are out of power or outmaneuvered during power interplays, they become activists. This tends to pay them as it keeps them relevant because, in part, people are willing to see them as repentant general of the masses. In Nigeria, one of the easiest ways to become a darling of the masses is to become combative against the government. Some Nigerians, it would appear, tend to attach a lot of importance to this political routine of displaced politicians who suddenly remember how government ought to function and how people must be served by officeholders, only because they have been schemed out of power equation. Meanwhile, these people once had the chance to do it themselves. To show the people what good governance truly means.
Notwithstanding, there is a far more disturbing angle to this issue. One may ask; why wouldn’t a politician who has been in government since 1999 walk away when he has been played out of the power schemes? They believe they have the solution to the country’s problems. Maybe, they did not expect to stay out of power even after spending such a long time in power. In any case, the messianic feeling that colours the thinking that one has to be a part of any government that would succeed underscores a major challenge with political leadership in Nigeria. The persuasion from the people that there is a messiah somewhere who will one day appear to salvage the country correlates with this same posturing of the former powerbrokers. In reality, good governance, progress, or development, is only incremental and not automatic.
Displaced politicians should stop exciting the masses as bait to re-launch their struggling political careers. But this will never happen except the people are willing to stop taking them seriously.
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