By Lola Idahosa, Kaduna
Ahead of the 2015 governorship race in Kaduna state, the question of where aspirants comes from has continued to be played up by some members of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).A group, the Concerned Members of PDP in Kaduna are insisting than an aspirant for the Sir Kashim Ibrahim House, Malam Nasir El-Rufa’i was originally from Katsina state and should stop heating up the polity in Kaduna where the group claimed ‘the people had helped him grow from obscurity’.
Speaking in an interview, Malam Hassan Ahmed Rufa’i recalled that the former Minister of the FCT had once, allegedly told some inhabitants of Unguwan Sarki in Kaduna North Local Government area who had visited him in Abuja that he was not an indigene of Kaduna state.
According to him, their investigation had revealed that the guber hopeful was from a village in Katsina state called Daudawa, but he grew up in Kawo of Kaduna North Local Government under the guardianship of a retired Federal Permanent Secretary.
“We in Kaduna, we are too liberal and accommodating. But sometimes many people take that for granted. El-Rufa’i had told the Kaduna people that he was not their minister, why should he now come to seek for their votes? He should go to Katsina, “he said
But the El-Rufai Campaign Organisation had earlier dismissed this new-fangled indigeneship card being played up as comical.In a statement the el Rufai campaign noted with dismay the apparent insistence of “the PDP and its pathetic government in Kaduna State to stay strictly comical. Serious issues of governance confront Kaduna State, but on what do its current rulers focus?
According to the campaign organization,” They spent the weekend accusing Malam Nasir El-Rufai of funding one of their gubernatorial aspirants. They followed up by assuming the temerity and authority to decide El-Rufai’s identity for him. Having been stung by his critique of their poor performance in Kaduna State, they decided on a ridiculous way to stem the negative assessments: simply declares El-Rufai a non-indigene of Kaduna State in the vain hope to thereby nullify the criticism. And pronto, the PDP simply decreed that El-Rufai is from Katsina State.
“We shall not dignify their backwardness; save to set the record straight .Malam Nasir El-Rufai was born to Malam Ahmad Rufai, from Zaria. His oldest brother, Air Vice Marshall Ali Rufai (rtd), enlisted in the Nigerian armed forces as an indigene of Zaria. Another older brother, Bashir El-Rufai, had a long career in the federal public service as an indigene of Kaduna State. All three El-Rufai brothers are listed in the ‘Who is Who of Zazzau Emirate’, a compendium of renowned sons and daughters of Zazzau Emirate. Alhaji Nuhu Bamalli, the first Zaria indigene to be appointed a federal minister, was an uncle to El-Rufai’s father, and was a well-respected Magajin Garin Zazzau.
“When El-Rufai served as DG of the BPE and as Minister of the FCT, there was no question of his status as a Kaduna man. Prior to public service, El-Rufai had established his fledgling Quantity Surveying firm in Kaduna since 1982, after completing primary, secondary and university education within the state. Now that his bid to serve as Kaduna governor is gathering momentum, they shame themselves anew. The renowned and most respected educationist in Northern Nigeria, Alhaji Yahaya Hamza is not only Nasir El-Rufai’s cousin but blood relation from Zazzau Emirate.
“They are exposing themselves badly enough as masters of division, pettiness and falsehood. They are well-known as specialists in separating people along fault lines be they ethnic, religious and regional, and they are unrelenting in setting so-called settlers against indigenes. A spectre is obviously haunting them, and they are running from pillar to post. But their daydream will deliver nothing, for comedy never trumps reality.
El-Rufai is offering a positive alternative to the people of Kaduna State. And the people find it credible, because he is a man that has made a success of every public office he has held. He is engaging with and mobilizing the people of Kaduna State for a mighty effort of change. And that is a most worthy focus.
