NBA vs. Nasir El-Rufai

Tuesday,August 25, 2020 / 08:05 AM / OpEd by Dr. Reuben Abati / Header Image Credit: Bioreports

I admire Nasirel-Rufai, the Governor of Kaduna State for his intellectual abilities and whathe has been able to achieve within the public space, but I am not hisfan. I have had two rather disturbing encounters with him. The first Iwould overlook because at the time, I thought he spoke out of plain honesty.But there was a second encounter that I have never been able to get out of mymind. Sometime in 2013, I had taken permission from President Goodluck Jonathanto stay back in London for a few days to sort out some personal matters. Therequest was granted. The Presidential delegation returned to Abuja without me.A few days later on my way back home, aboard British Airways, guess who I raninto as I tried to settle down: Nasir el-Rufai. I was so excited to seehim. He had just then published his impressive memoir: The Accidental PublicServant (Safari Books, 2013, 627pp.) I rushed to meet him and enthusiasticallytold him that I had read his book and that I was impressed. I congratulatedhim. He was busy putting his hand luggage in the overhead compartment. As soonas he was done with that, he turned towards me and bellowed:

"Abati, you arecalling us yesterday's men eh? Very soon, you too will be a yesterday man. Whenwe become today's people, we will show you what it means to be a yesterdayman!".

He didn't respondto my compliments about his book. The scowl on his face was enough to frightena lion. I was so confounded, I simply walked back to my seat. I kept to my lanethroughout the trip. I was Nigeria's Presidential spokesman at the time.Indeed, I had written a piece titled "The Hypocrisy of Yesterday's Men" (February 3, 2013). I wrote in defence of my boss: "A loosely bound group ofyesterday's men and women seems to be on the offensive against the Jonathanadministration. They pick issues with virtually every effort of theadministration, pretending to do so in the public interest; positing that theyalone, know it all. Arrogantly, they claim to be better and smarter thaneveryone else in the current government. They are ever so censorious,contrarian and supercilious. They have no original claim to their pretensionsother than that they were privileged to have been in the corridors of power onceupon a time in their lives. They obviously got so engrossed with their ownsense of importance they began to imagine themselves indispensable to Nigeria.It is dangerous to have such a navel-gazing, narcissistic group inflictthemselves with so much ferocity on an otherwise impressionable public. We arein reality dealing with a bunch of hypocrites".

I went further: "Withexceptions so few, they really don't care about Nigeria as a sovereign but thepolitical spoils that accrue from it. And so they will stop at nothing todiscredit those they think are not as deserving as they imagine themselves tobe. President Jonathan has unfairly become the target of their pitiablefrustrations. They mask self-interest motives as public causes and manipulatethe public's desire for improvements in their daily struggles as opportunityfor power grab..." I didn't mention anyone directly. But I recall FemiFani-Kayode, my friend, brother and associate, long before the Jonathan years,was the only other person who attacked me around the period. I had made anothercomment and Fani-Kayode promptly retorted that Reuben Abati could only havesaid whatever he said because he was the product of a same-sex marriage.

The same FemiFani-Kayode would later realize his own hypocrisy. He eventually abandoned thecompany of hypocrites and aligned with the Jonathan government. He in fact ledPresidential Jonathan's second-term campaign as strategist and campaignspokesperson. Nasir el-Rufai was one of those who never took the Road toDamascus. In my 2013 essay, I did not mention his name. I gave examplesincluding that of some Quantity Surveyors who needed to return to theirprofessions and desist from turning Nigeria, after a spell in public office,into a meal ticket. Nasir el-Rufai is a Quantity Surveyor. He obviously assumedthat the innuendo was directed at him. He took it personal. But on the spur ofthe moment, I couldn't think up a justification for his attitude towards me.His arrogance. His malicious conduct. I have a big ego myself. But Nasirel-Rufai's ego is taller than the tallest building in the world. He has had abrilliant public career, and he is one of our brightest, but his public personais that he is completely undiplomatic. There is nobody he cannot abuse. There isno harsh phrase that he cannot utter. His critics insist that he respectsnobody, fears nobody, and yet everyone wonders what feeds his ego. What is itbased on? In his days as Minister of the Federal Territory, he demolishedpeople's houses at will. He fought the National Assembly. I will rate him asthe best Minster of the FCT so far though, even if he went about his job in avery tactless manner.

As Governor ofKaduna State, he has also shown the same lack of tact and diplomacy. We aredealing with hubris it seems. In his public career since President OlusegunObasanjo discovered him in 1999 and brought him aboard Nigeria's big stage,Nasir el-Rufai has consistently acquired a public persona as an intolerantpublic servant, and a perpetual accident. In Kaduna state which he presidesover, anybody that criticizes him in any way, is most likely to be slammed witha legal suit and detained. He has fought Shiites. He has abused the leaders ofSouthern Kaduna. He is said to be above the courts of the land because he doesnot respect their orders. One Bishop had the temerity to prophesy that he,El-Rufai will never be President of Nigeria, the Bishop is now in court torespond to charges of criminal defamation for daring to prophesy that theAlmighty Nasir El-Rufai will never be "President of Nigeria".

This piece istitled "NBA vs Nasir el-Rufai". My simple point in that regard which is themain thrust of this piece is that Nasir el-Rufai is in part, the victim of hisown hubris. He has lessons to learn from his current travails and I hope thathe will soon be on the Road to Damascus. But at the same time, I thinkthe joke is on the NBA, not el-Rufai. Paul Usoro, the outgoing President of theNigerian Bar Association has handled the el-Rufai matter in a mostembarrassing, cowardly and disgraceful manner. Nasir el-Rufai was invited bythe Technical Conference Planning Committee (TCCP) of the NBA as a keynoteSpeaker at the Annual General Conference of the NBA 2020. The theme is "STEPPING FORWARD" and the question is: "Who is a Nigerian? A Debate onNational Identity" (26 -29 August 2020) with a special session focusing on thetopic: "Am I a Nigerian - A Debate on National Identity, TheIndigeneship-Citizenship Conundrum". It is a virtual conference, the first inthe history of the NBA, in other words, a COVID-19 determined and compliantconference of the NBA, and the 60^th Annual General Conference of thebody.

When the TechnicalCommittee for Conference Planning (TCCP) of the NBA decided to invite Nasirel-Rufai as a keynote speaker at this particular session, they must havethought of the fact that more than any other Governor in Nigeria at the moment,he is one Governor who has had to deal with the issue of identity crisis,especially in the Southern part of the state that he governs. Besides, he hasthe intellectual heft, the analytic skills and the knowledge of the nationalquestion being addressed. His ability in these regards is beyond question andhe has the confidence to articulate his views in any forum locally andinternationally. The Presidential Conference Planning Committee could not havemade a better choice. You may not like el-Rufai's attitude and his lack oftact, but you cannot question his ability as a diligent and first-rateintellect. By uninviting him to the 60^th NBA 60^th GeneralConference, the NBA submitted itself to the will of an aggressive and vocalminority in a manner that could affect the future of the NBA negatively. Mostof the people who signed the petition against Nasir el-Rufai come across likepersons who nurse personal grudges against him and who failed to look at thebig picture. The NBA as A.U. Mustapha, SAN has argued convincingly, should notbe politicized. It must not be personalized. It must not be used to settlepolitical, ethnic or personal scores. The decision to uninvite Nasir el-Rufaito this year's NBA conference which commences tomorrow is a major low in thehistory of the NBA. Targeting one man out of a long list of other persons whohave been identified by the Radical Agenda Movement led by Ogunlana Esq. as notnecessarily saintly amounts to partiality and institutional malice.

Paul Usoro, theoutgoing NBA President has also not handled the matter with wisdom. He haspresided over the NBA in one of its lowest moments in the last 60 years. Thedecision to open up the NBA Annual Conference to non-lawyers and stakeholdercommunities is one of the major achievements of the last few years, but in alast moment act of indiscretion, Usoro's NBA has blown that up. The scapegoatingof el-Rufai by a group that has had more despicable persons on its list ofinvitees over the years is an indication of unfairness, injustice and malice bythe same persons who claim to defend the rule of law. The NBA should bean open forum for all ideas to contend and for all persons to enjoy the benefitof fair hearing. With the NBA vs el-Rufai saga, may be the NBA is better off inthe future inviting only persons who will tell members what they would like tohear. Even worse and this should be condemned, is the spineless, cheap andpathetic letters of apology written to the Muslim Lawyers Association ofNigeria (MULAN) and the Nigeria Governors' Forum by Paul Usoro, the NBAPresident. These were self-serving letters in which Usoro tried to disown theNBA NEC. What kind of cowardly conduct is that? His silly apologies havebrought the Usoro Presidency to an ugly end. Coming shortly after he presidedover a most controversial NBA Presidential election and a lackluster tenure,Usoro by August 27 will be handing over a divided and troubled NBA. Nasirel-Rufai is not the problem of the NBA. The NBA, turned into a rent-seekingvehicle, is its own problem, and it is sad to see a once dynamic andprogressive NBA, reduced to a beggarly body. Was it not under Usoro's watchthat a Chief Justice was disgraced out of office and judges were humiliated?The association faces a leadership crisis that it must resolve and address,especially now that there is a simmering battle between the inner and outer Barfor its soul.

It is not too lateto reverse the dis-invitation of Nasir el-Rufai to the 60^th NBAAGC. But he can take sufficient solace in the fact that he is not theproblem. His travail with the NBA is only an indication of a problem within theNBA itself. Olumide Akpata's emergence as NBA President is seen as the triumphof the young Turks within the NBA, that is the Outer Bar. Nasir el-Rufai isjust a convenient pawn in an existing conflict. We should, therefore, lookfarther into the future. Olumide Akpata who by next week would have assumedoffice, has his job cut out for him. He has to unite a divided House. He mustalso restore confidence in the Bar. He will either take charge or cede controlto a vocal, aluta continua group within the NBA that has shown its handsrather early with the objection to Nasir el-Rufai. The radical elements withinthe NBA must focus on larger issues beyond the politics of malice andpersonality. The NBA is in urgent need of reform.

HerbertWigwe and Access Bank

I got a call abouta week ago informing me that it was the birthday of Herbert Wigwe, the CEO ofAccess Bank and it would be nice to drink up on his behalf, thank the Almightyand shame the Devil as it were. Since the easing of the lockdown, boys havebeen looking for every opportunity to return to the old normal. I declined. Iresist temptations to defy COVID-19; for, even more careful persons have fallenvictim.

In normal times, Iwould have jumped at an opportunity to celebrate Herbert Wigwe who is certainlyone of the biggest revelations in Nigeria's banking industry in this century.When he took over the leadership of Access Bank, the Bank was no. 5. Today,that bank is No. 1 in terms of share capital, loans, deposits, reach andcustomer satisfaction. In April 2019, under Wigwe's watch, Access Bank mergedwith Diamond Bank and became the largest bank in Africa. Wigwe has shown acapacity to control and transform every storm that comes the way of the bank.There is no doubt that he is leading Access bank in the right direction. He andhis brother, Aigboje Aig-Imoukhuede, both co-founders of Access Bank, remind meof Fola Adeola and Tayo Aderinokun who both built GT Bank into a global brand.

At a time whenNigeria's reputation is being rubbished by the likes of Hushpuppy and Woodberryand the 419 gang, Herbert Wigwe and his team give Nigeria great hopes. He is arole model for the younger generation. Today, Access Bank is not just a Tier-IBank, it has branches across Africa which provide jobs for millions across thecontinent. And yet Wigwe is just 54. He is in addition, Chairman of Nigeria'sBankers' Committee. A high-achieving brother like him truly deserves a drinkand a salute. The organisers should please invite me next year when, hopefully,our lives would have become normal again. In the meantime, many happy returnsHerbert. May your days be long.