The war of words between the Presidency and the former Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Mallam Nasir El-Rufai has shown no signs of abating, with the latest salvo coming from the Special Adviser to the President on Public Affairs, Dr. Doyin Okupe calling El-Rufai a ‘pernicious liar’ who could not be trusted over his comments against President Goodluck Jonathan.
Dr Okupe, who featured as Guest of the Week on Liberty FM Radio monitored in Kaduna on Saturday, said El-Rufai and his group did not mean well for the country and wanted the country to end up in flames.
He went on to say, “These are people that do not wish this country well, these are people, who in spite of their desperate on their ambition, would rather, the country crumble before they get to power. These are people who are beneficiary of the same government and of the same country, people who the nation has been extremely very kind to.
“A couple of years ago, El-Rufai was a nobody in this country; he was just a quantity surveyor who was discovered and brought into government by the then Vice-President, Abubakar Atiku and all of a sudden, he made himself a superstar; he became very rich, very comfortable and believes that unless he and his cliques are in government, that government cannot work, which is a fallacy. Nigerians have more than 40 million people who are better educated, better pedigree who can do better given the same opportunity that El-Rufai had.”
He also described the national tour by the five northern state governors as a comedy that can be equated to watching Africa Magic.
“You heard about five governors who said they were motivated to go round the whole country because of Rivers crisis. Is that not a national joke? It is like watching Africa Magic.
“What is the crisis in Rivers? Who is Amaechi and what is the issue that the whole country is being disturbed because of something that happened at the Nigerian Governors’ Forum (NGF). What is Nigerian Governors’ Forum to the destiny of this country? What has it got to do with us? The Rivers crisis is something that people just latch unto to fan the embers of this anti-Jonathan emotion and to continue to promote hatred against Goodluck Jonathan.
“And, of course, Amaechi is a willing tool, very rich, wealthy so he is very useful to the opposition. What you are seeing is an over dramatisation of the preparations for 2015 period.
“These governors that were so motivated, so passionately concern about the ultimate destiny of Nigeria, were not motivated when the Boko Haram crises were raging in the north to go round the north and plead on how to solve the problem.
“They were not concern enough for the thousands of people that were being bomb, killed in their mosques, their churches in their domains under their eyes. I feel like crying, people are opening their doors to hypocrites…
“Amaechi used police and power to harass, intimidate and punish people unjustly. Because Mbu has refused to be a tool in the hands of Amaechi and has refused to bend to unjustified high handedness of Amaechi, now because he is supported by the opposition, he now presents Mbu as a villain. It is not true. He is a professional man; he is a man of dignity who has remained steadfast”.