…Says ex-Gov.’s ‘bestial legacies’ responsible for current travails
Nigeria’s Ambassador-designate to Germany and former Aviation Minister, Femi Fani-Kayode, has said petitions over alleged human rights abuses were the real reason former Kaduna State governor Nasir el-Rufa’i failed to secure a ministerial appointment in 2023.
El-Rufa’i, who is undergoing multiple trials over alleged money laundering, diversion of public funds and wire-tapping the National Security Adviser (NSA), is currently in the custody of the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC)
However, Fani-Kayode attributed his travails to the nemesis resulting from the ill treatments he meted out to people both as Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) and Kaduna State governor.
In a two-page published article, the former Minister of Culture recalled the numerous atrocities el-Rufa’i allegedly committed against defenceless citizens, including children and internally-displaced persons while he held sway as governor.
Fani-Kayode dismissed claims that a political conspiracy blocked el-Rufa’i’s nomination by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, insisting the Senate rejected it after the Department of State Services (DSS) received numerous petitions from Shia Muslims, Tijjaniyya Muslims and Christians in Kaduna who accused him of persecution and rights violations during his tenure.
He argued that the allegations – ranging from killings and harassment to controversial demolitions of homes, religious sites and orphanages – were too serious for lawmakers to ignore.
Fani-Kayode further claimed el-Rufa’i’s current legal troubles, including investigations over alleged financial crimes and security-related accusations, were consequences of what he described as the former governor’s “bestial legacy” while in office.
He also raised concerns over claims of phone-tapping involving the National Security Adviser, warning that the matter could pose broader national security implications.
According to him, the most frightening aspect of this issue is the allegation made by l-Rufa’i that the NSA has imported a large quantity of a lethal poison known as ‘thallium sulphate’ into our shores which is banned in many countries in the world, which has been used for assasination purposes in some nations in the past and which is lethal to humans and animals even in small doses. Worse of all, it is a colourless and odourless substance which cannot be detected when released. It is the perfect killing machine.
“I have no doubt that the NSA has NOT imported this substance and this begs the following question: Is it possible that it is actually El-Rufa’i’s associates that have secretly smuggled in that lethal poison and that they are planning to execute what is known as a ‘false flag’ operation in our country, in which they will use it to eliminate large numbers of our people and then blame it on the security agencies and Federal Government?
“Is that why the letter was purposely and strategically leaked to the public? Were those behind the smuggling in of the poison and the leaking of the letter putting us on notice, albeit falsely, that the Government has imported this chemical weapon and that when ‘they’ (meaning the conspirators and terrorists) unleash it with devastating consequences on our people the public will automatically assume it was the Federal Government and blame the Tinubu administration for it?
“Is that the evil hand and malevolent card they are attempting to play or are they planning to use the poison to simply target and kill Government officials, public figures, members of the opposition, or even to sell or donate to any or all of the 5 terrorist organisations that are waging war against our Armed Forces and people?”
“If a well-educated, experienced and enlightened former public office holder like Nasir el-Rufa’i can say the things he said openly on national television before millions of viewers; and if he can write such letters attempting to implicate the Office of the NSA in the importation of lethal substances which are used to kill people then he certainly has a lot of explaining to do and many questions to answer. It is either that he knows more than he is prepared to say or that he has lost his sanity.
“I sincerely hope I am wrong, but these are the sort of things that people like those I suspect are the associates of el-Rufa’i that have a hidden agenda and that are desperate for and obsessed with power often do. History proves that”, he stated.
