arrival. No life can be breathed into them from the air of the repealed law under which they were
anchored. I agree entirely with the submissions of the Learned Senior Counsel for the Accused
persons that there is nothing to transfer to the appropriate Court in this case, the High Court of the
Federal Capital Territory, Abuja. ...
... Consequently in view of all the facts adumbrated above, the 8 counts charge brought against the
Accused persons be and is hereby quashed for lack of jurisdiction on the authority of Ikomi vs State
(1986) 3 NWLR Pt (28) 340 at 342 ratio 9. The Accused persons are discharged accordingly.”
The case was re-filed at the FCT High Court and it is ongoing.
[10]
This was early in the New Year after the holidays, sometime towards the end of January 2005.
[11]
In September 2004, a petition t against me was addressed to Obasanjo. It contained a plethora of
allegations of wrong-doing in land administration, financial recklessness and administrative failings.
My inner circle was convinced that it was the career public servants in the FCT that put together the
petition. Our Villa sources informed us that the petition may have been handed over to Yayale Ahmed
by Deji Omotade, my permanent secretary, who in turn hand-delivered it to Obasanjo. I never
bothered to check the source and routing, and frankly did not care. The president forwarded it to me
for comments and I sent a comprehensive response backed with documents to each of the allegations,
many of which were simply false, and the rest the articulated mischief of civil servants. Obasanjo
accepted my explanations and cleared me of all the allegations. Deji Omotade had to place stories in
newspapers denying any involvement in the enterprise. See ThisDay, Sunday 17th October 2004,
page 4 – “Perm Sec Denies Writing Petition Against El-Rufai”, and the Tribune, Saturday 16th
October 2004, p. 30 – “I Did not Plot Against You”, MFCT Perm Sec Tells El-Rufai. Both stories
were based on the contents of a letter, reference MFCT/PS/2004/1041/116, dated 12th October 2004
addressed to me by Mr. Omotade. Six months later, the MFCT was dissolved by Executive Order and
he was sent back to the Head of Civil Service for redeployment.
[12]
Sometime after this conversation, Obasanjo reconsidered this and thought of sending me on errands to
the Sultan of Sokoto, President Shagari and General Muhammadu Buhari to brief them on the "state of
the nation".
[13]
Fortuitously, the Financial Times of London had published a strongly worded editorial that morning
asking Obasanjo to go, and appealing to world leaders that are his friends to encourage him to set a
good
example
and
leave.
Seehttp://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/cc13086c-e477-11da-8ced-
0000779e2340.html#axzz1wSfIutmA,
accessed on 31st March 2012. Obasanjo had travelled, I think, to France or South Korea at the time
the debate on the Third Term clause was going on in the Senate. The House of Representatives had
not gone beyond preliminary consideration of the Bill at that point.
[14]
There is some uncertainty about my actual birth date. The date of 16th February, 1960 came from my
deceased uncle, Alhaji Hamza Gidado, when registering me as a transfer student at LEA Primary
School, Kawo. He swore a statutory declaration of age to that effect, and it has been part of my
biographical records. Sometime in 2009, my brother, Bashir El-Rufai, found a piece of paper in our
deceased father's books suggesting that I may have been born sometime in the middle of June 1959. I
have maintained the "official" birth-date until further validation to justify amending all my personal
biographical records.
[15] The second copy of the handwritten letter of application using the Hausa traditional pen made
from corn stalk, dated 1st November 1928, was found in our father's papers by Bashir El-Rufai and is
reproduced in Appendix 2 (Translation included).
[16]
Indeed Arewa Hotels became the largest hotel management chain in Nigeria up until the 1990s.
[17]
Bank of the North is part of what is now known as Unity Bank PLC
[18]
Dr. Ahmed Gumi was my classmate in the School of Basic Studies, the pre-degree programme of
Ahmadu Bello University, who joined the Army while in still medical school. He later resigned his
commission and went to Saudi Arabia to study Islamic Theology. He is now a leading Islamic cleric,
following his illustrious father's footsteps. Abdulkadir Gumi was a couple of years my junior in
Barewa, and is now a general in the Nigerian Army and head of its legal services department.
[19]
The governor of Zamfara State between 1999 and 2007, Ahmad Sani, Yeriman Bakura , was the
initiator of the Sharia movement in Nigeria, largely as a counter-force against PDP big-wigs from his
state, like General Aliyu Gusau.. Amidst the poverty and income inequality raging in the North at the
time, the movement became popular with the "talakawa", and within a year, 12 northern states had
adopted Sharia into their criminal law. Sharia has always been part of our judicial system, but until
then was only applicable to personal matters like marriage, inheritance and the like. Within two
years, two women had been convicted for adultery in Zamfara and Katsina States, and sentenced to
death by stoning. Both convictions were quashed on appeal largely because the evidentiary burden of
proving adultery under Islamic law are nearly impossible to discharge - four independent witnesses
must testify to seeing the adulterous couple in action, and no one would call another! Short of a
voluntary confession, no one can be convicted of adultery under strict Islamic law. But the
convictions made national and international headlines, and many lawyers made careers out of them!
Within another two years, by 2004, the political sharia had lost steam. It is no longer an issue in
Nigerian political and religious discourse.
[20] The educational system then was 7-5-2-3, i.e. primary (7 years), secondary, up to WASC "O"
Level (5 years), Higher School Certificate HSC/ "A" Level (2 years) and university (3 years). Most
people fail the HSC, and spend an extra year doing "prelim" in the university before proceeding with
the degree proper. The HSC was abolished in the North and Schools of Basic and Advanced Studies
were established for one or two year programmes, leading to the IJMB exams for entrance to ABU
and Bayero University College, Kano. JAMB was introduced nationally in 1978 to replace the
North's IJMB. The entire system was then changed to the American-style 6-3-3-4, thus abolishing ‘A’
levels in the late 1980s.
[21]
North-Central State became Kaduna State in 1975, and was split into Kaduna and Katsina States in
1987.
[22]
After a distinguished civil service career in education, spanning North-Central, Kaduna and Katsina
States, Mallam Bello Kofar Bai retired and was appointed the chairman of the Federal Character
Commission and served at the same time I was minister of the Federal Capital Territory. He died in
January 2007. May his gentle soul rest in perfect peace. Amen.
[23] NNDC is the New Nigeria Development Company Ltd., a development finance institution set up
by the old Northern R
egion in the 1950s to fill the entrepreneurial and capital vacuum existing then.
Under Hamza Zayyad, NNDC grew to be one of Nigeria's top conglomerates with investments in
virtually every sector of the economy. It is jointly owned by the 19 northern states. I served as Joint-
Secretary of two committees set up in the 1990s to restructure and revamp its operations under the
chairmanship of one of its more successful CEOs, Mallam Musa Bello, OFR, a Harvard AMP
alumnus, who retired as permanent secretary, Federal Ministry of Finance in 1979.
[24]
I left the cabinet on May 29, 2007 but was appointed to the super-ministerial National Energy Council
by President Umaru Yar'Adua in September 2007. The National Energy Council was intended to be
the coordinating body for energy policy and strategy, including electricity, oil, gas and renewables.
Sadly, the council met only once as relations between Yar'Adua and some of us deteriorated. I
resigned in June 2008 as part of my preparations to attend the Harvard Kennedy School of
Government.
[25]
Chief Bola Ige, then a leading opposition figure called the five parties ‘the five fingers of a leprous
hand.’ Abacha clamped him into detention, along with my friend, Dr Usman Bugaje whose piece
‘When Silence Is No Longer Golden,’ is one of the best written opposition tracts of the time.
[26]
O. Obasanjo and A. Mabogunje (1992) – Elements of Democracy, p.133
[27]
According to Obasanjo, the group included Yaya Abubakar, Dr. Patrick Dele Cole, Dr. Tunji
Olagunju and others I cannot now recall. This was his informal think-tank when he was Head of State
between 1976 and 1979 in Lagos.
[28]
Actually, I do not think Obasanjo would have bothered contacting me after this meeting. I suspect it
was Steve Oronsaye who kept reminding him of the need to bring me into the administration. Steve
and I have been close friends and he was returning a favour. Amah Iwuagwu and I intervened with
Ismaila Usman to keep him in his position in the Finance Ministry after Abacha died. The civil
servants resented Steve's position of influence under Abacha's finance minister, Anthony Ani, and
they had served him a "quit notice" since he was not considered a "proper civil servant". Following
representations by Amah and my humble self, Ismaila Usman reversed the decision and kept Steve on
his team. Ironically, Steve went on to be the Principal Secretary to Obasanjo, Permanent Secretary in
the Ministry of Finance and later the Head of Civil Service of the Federation under the Yar'Adua
administration!
[29] See Nigeria - Debt, Development and Democracy, FT Conference, May 4-5, 1999. The FT of
May 6 mentioned my presentation on the proposed Nigerian privatization programme - the first time
my name appeared newsworthy in any newspaper was in a British newspaper! Antony Goldman
wrote the story and it was the beginning of a long and enduring friendship.
[30] A sample extract of the Weekly Briefs can be seen in Appendix 4 of this book.
[31]
It is normal in northern Nigerian culture to name our children after parents, grandparents, siblings and
trusted friends. Many of my children were named in honour of parents, in-laws, uncles and aunts.
Tijjani Abdullahi and Nuhu Ribadu named one of their sons Nasir as a tribute to our brotherhood and
friendship. Peter Okocha is from Delta State but speaks fluent Hausa, Igbo and Yoruba. His three sons
have Arabic (Hausa-Fulani), Yoruba and Igbo names - a mark of a true Nigerian.
[32]
See for instance this summary. Many Nigerian bloggers and newspapers have cited the full report.
http://hsgac.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?
FuseAction=Press.MajorityNews&ContentRecord_id=9a9a2e09-5056-8059-76f6-1b9eb33b29b2
accessed on March 29, 2012.
[33]
We drafted and published a new National Telecommunications Policy (2000) under the auspices of
Communications Sector Reform Steering Committee, and hired a consortium led by Clifford Chance
to draft a new Communications Bill (2001) which was presented to the National Assembly. This laid
the foundations for the strengthening of the NCC to issue GSM licenses and the full deregulation of
the telecommunications sector.
[34]
Ambassador Howard Jeter wrote a letter dated December 2, 2002 to Obasanjo, appealing he
"ensures that irregularities in the early stages of the process do not unfairly prejudice (Motorola's)
bid.”
[35]
Motorola submitted a petition to President Obasanjo on the bid process dated October 17, 2002,
hand-delivered by its consultant. Obasanjo directed the Minister of Communications, Dr. Bello
Halliru Mohammed to ..."...look into this clinically and ensure no deviation and no corruption" on
October 21, 2002. As the Siemens indictment later revealed, Obasanjo was unlikely to get any truthful
responses to this directive!
[36]
Shortly after this incident, the BPE and the Minister of Transport, Ojo Maduekwe, had a head-on
confrontation over the privatization of Nigerdock. Like most ministers, Ojo was opposed to the
divestiture and even published a disclaimer in the papers questioning BPE’s authority to privatize.
Both Atiku and Obasanjo rebuked Ojo and supported BPE’s decision to sell the enterprise. Ojo relied
on Obasanjo’s support to over-rule Atiku and the BPE, but unknown to him, by then Obasanjo was
fully on our side. I was so confident of Obasanjo’s support that I told the Punch – “Only Obasanjo can
halt Nigerdock’s privatization” and it was reported on pages 1 and 2 of the newspaper on 24th
October, 2002.
[37]
See the full interview titled "My mission is to build a clean, sane capital city - El-Rufai" by Martins
Oloja in the Guardian of Sunday, September 7, 2003.
[38]
See The Guardian story of 9th September, 2003 filed by Alifa Daniel - "El-Rufai denies accusing
senators of bribery" and the Punch story of same date filed by Sam Akpe - N54m bribery scandal:
Senate to summon El-Rufai"
[39] The Punch , October 13, 2003: "El-Rufai's family upholds bribery allegation".
[40]
The Yar’Adua-Jonathan administrations were luckier, enjoying even higher oil prices and increased
levels of oil production but ended up earning and blowing over $200 billion in four years with little
or nothing to show for it.
[41] The White Paper titled “Reform vs. Status Quo – The Campaign against Nasir El-Rufai and the
Degenreation of Progress in Nigeria” by Amsterdam and Peroff (December 2009).
[42]
Dr. Mansur went on to be the director general of the Debt Management Office in our time, and later
minister of finance under Yar’Adua. He now represents Nigeria on the board of the World Bank as
executive director.
[43]
Baroness Chalker remains a friend of Nigeria and Nigerian presidents. She continues to serve as
chair of the Honorary Presidential Advisory Council on Investments, and is a director of Unilever
among other involvements. Her consulting firm, Africa Matters, advises corporations and
governments on investments in Africa.
[44] The 11-slide presentation titled "Reengineering the Federal Government, 2003" undertook a
situation review of 1999-2003, summarized the challenges for 2003 and beyond, listed reeng
ineering
objectives, identified six priority actions, analysed key MDAs and reform sequencing, with a list 26
'good' men and women for consideration. Fifteen of the people ended up in the government. Two of
them got elected governors, and another is now a catholic bishop!
[45]
Chinedu Ezekwesili was also some kind of honorary deputy chaplain of the Presidential Villa,
ministering on Wednesdays, so he had a dual relationship with Obasanjo - as Oby's husband and as
once-a-week pastor to Obasanjo.
[46]
We had Economic Management Team (EMT) meetings at 8.30am every Wednesday. The President
chaired and the SGF took minutes. In addition to the 'real economic team', the ministers of
Agriculture, Education, Health, Commerce and Industry, Culture & Tourism, Science and Technology
and other ministers attended as needed, plus the Head of Civil Service of the Federation and some
selected presidential aides. This meeting took broad policy decisions.
[47]
Oby's children - Chinwuba and Chinenmelum are twins and are recent graduates of two US
universities. Chidera is about to enrol into his undergraduate programme in the US as well.
[48]
Charles's area was the macro-economy. Oby wrote the parts on governance, transparency and anti-
corruption, including procurement reforms. I contributed the sections on privatization, public
enterprise reform and civil service reforms. Akin Arikawe and Mansur Mukhtar wrote the debt
management sections. Bode Agusto and Steve Oronsaye covered public financial management and
budget reforms. Ifueko Omoigui wrote on tax reforms. Ngozi coordinated the work and got us a mass
of information from multilateral sources. Charles ended up being Mr. NEEDS!
[49]
Ironically, Obasanjo did not want me to be a member of the economic team. He thought that I had too
much to do in FCT to have time for anything else. Indeed, the second time we were to meet with the
British government in London, he recalled me to Nigeria when he learnt I was in London. At that
second plenary at the Paddington Hilton Hotel in London, we considered the second draft of the
Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper (PSRP) for Nigeria, and decided we will give it our own name.
Charles called it National Economic Development Strategy (NEDS). I suggested the addition of
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