I thought I had read every letter that came out of Sanusi's public pen between the period 1998-2005 when he used to write articles, until I came across this.


NASIR EL-RUFAI AND ISLAM IN FCT
By Sanusi Lamido Sanusi
August 8, 2004

The title of this essay must appear strange to most readers. The FCT minister, Nasir el-Rufai, has never, to my knowledge, declared that he was going to “launch” the shari’ah in his territory. Non-Muslims in the FCT have never had cause to feel threatened by his administration. If anything, he recently ordered the demolition of places of worship, including (sacrilege of sacrileges!) mosques, for the minor and inconsequential oversight of the builders in not obtaining appropriate authority for their structures. A man who can actually demolish a “house of God” cannot be in any one’s books a believer.
 
El-Rufai , Nigeria ’s brilliant FCT minister, has a reputation for controversy. At BPE, if it was not the fight with those who misled the investors in AP, then it was his public and acrimonious altercation with the raving beauty of the cabinet, Mrs Kema Chikwe. The first month he became minister he was embroiled in controversy with the leadership of the Senate, over his assertion that he had been asked for a bribe to “smoothen” his confirmation by the upper house. He next proceeded to demolish the houses and other properties of well-connected, eminent(!) citizens that were at variance with the approved master plan of the FCT. In this crusade not even churches, and not even mosques, were spared. Of recent, he has introduced measures aimed at making sure that all scams involving land allocation at FCT are exposed by revoking certificates of occupancy and demanding all land-owners to go through a screening process leading to re-certification.
 
But to dismiss Nasir as being “controversial”, as many are wont to do, is a disastrous mistake. First of all, in spite of the fact that he has ruffled a quite few feathers (including many ostrich feathers), his actions have been met with the quiet approval of the majority of Nigerian society. What is termed controversial is in fact a stubborn desire to be different, not just for its sake, but for the sake of making a difference, a small positive contribution to a system in need of change. Without growing a long beard and wearing a turban, without shouting Allahu Akbar at every mundane and hypocritical political rally, e-Rufai has set the pace of letting actions speak louder than words, and being guided by conscience in the conduct of public trust.
 
He did not have to do that. He could, like many before (and around him), have continued with business as usual. He could have negotiated a settlement with rich house owners, spared their houses in return for a payoff. He could have ridden on the wave of corruption in land matters at the FCT and allocated plots to himself or his proxies, or even sold prime land for a large personal fortune. Hew could have done all this, while blowing his siren everyday to announce that he is going to mosque, and making inflammatory statements as proof of his loyalty and commitment to the Muslim ummah. He could have demolished churches, and found an excuse for not demolishing mosques. He could have stolen money and paid for the ulama in his town to go to Mecca on hajj and umrah, or, in the case of the younger, smarter, more materialistic Wahhabi types, given them some nice corner plots to sell for a few million naira. He could spend his time mouthing nonsensicalities about the dress code of women or other matters of personal morality, while conducting public trust himself in the most immoral manner.
 
He could, like many Nigerians, have shivered at the thought of engaging powerful men and women-including uniformed officers and those in retirement- in conflict. He could have thought of the need to be careful, to protect his life and that of his family, from those who would stop at nothing to protect what they have amassed at the expense of the public. He chose not to. He opted for the difficult path of confronting, head-on, a national malady, of risking everything in the name of his conscience and his country. No one can say if el-Rufai will last long in government if he continues like this. No one can tell which powerful toe he will step on that will kick him out of office. But if that happens, and when it happens, at least we will know he stepped on a toe, something that we, as Nigerians, have been too timid to even try.
 
I do not agree with everything Nasir has done or said. I certainly do not share his complete confidence in market forces, or at least the bit of it I saw on display when he was at the BPE. My own development as an economist was mixed with an orientation and affinity to Marxian political economy. I therefore have a healthy skepticism for market forces and find myself ideologically opposed to the monetarism of Milton Friedman and the Chicago school. This means I probably will find much to question in economic thinking of Nasir and his close friends in the Ministry of Finance and the Central bank. But while I disagree with him on some points,  I respect him and also find many areas of common vision.
 
Nasir’s courage, and principle, are refreshing for many reasons. One reason is that for those who have lost hope in Nigeria the message is that not all hope is lost. Along with the Minister of Finance and the Minister of Information, Nasir is one of a handful of cabinet appointments made by Obasanjo since he came to power in 1999 that Nigerians can be truly proud of. Practically every other cabinet appointment, starting from his choice of running mate, was an unmitigated disaster. One or two potentially good hands did not last at all because they would not play ball. The point here is that we now know there is still hope.
 
But there is also freshness in the absence of hypocritical moralization and pretence of religious fervour. We live in a country reputed to be the most religious in the world. We have Muslim fundamentalists of all shades and sects, and evangelical, born-again Christians and prosperity churches. Our churches and mosques are full of worshippers. Our roads are blocked on Fridays and Sundays by those who have parked their cars and blocked the road for those who do not worship God in their own church or mosque, or who worship Him at a different time in a different manner, or even those who choose, as is their right to, not to worship Him at all. The worshippers at the redeemed camp, on the Lagos–Ibadan expressway, make the road impassable when they go for camping and night vigil.
 
Yet Nigeria is the most corrupt nation in the world. We are known for the plunder of public funds, for economic and financial crime, for drug trafficking and counterfeiting and forgery. There is no security of life and property. As more Nigerians sink into poverty, religious leaders are coming out of it and prospering. Obviously if the God we say we worship is as we say He is, it is not He that we worship if this is our character. Our president spoke to God and he contested elections based on this personal conversation. There was no witness but we will take his word that, at least someone who he believes to be God spoke to him. One of his special assistants, a pastor with a history of drug addiction, insists that the president is anointed of God and threatens fire and brimstone and God’s wrath on all who dare criticize the messiah. Muslim politicians, particularly at state level, have become religious demagogues. At every forum now Allah’s name is invoked, the shari’ah is referred to, and there is this big competition to prove commitment to the faith.
 
In all this, we have done a great disservice to God and religion. By dragging both into the murky waters of our politics, by mentioning God at every trivial opportunity, by reducing religious symbols to political jargon and propaganda instruments, we have desacralised that which was holy, tarnished that which was pure, and lowered that which was exalted. Religious scholars have become contractors and political opportunists. This is not new of course. It is an old insight, going back at least to Gramsci’s Prison Notes, that the religious(and traditional) establishment is often co-opted by political society as an active element in the persuasive machinery of the hegemonic state. This is why, for many of us, the emergence of overtly political religious movements of the Christian right and Muslim fringe, was always viewed with suspicion as a threat to our corporate existence as a polity.
 
In all the years of shouting religion, most of these politicians have continued to steal, to lie, to cheat, and to give and receive bribes with impunity. This is why it is those like Nasir, who make no claims but act in a manner that is consistent with honour and good conscience-it is to leaders like him that Muslims should turn for direction. While those who claim to be the guardians of religion are busy selling it and desecrating it, those they condemn as irreligious are restoring its dignity while distancing it from squalor.  This is what it means to be a Muslim, or Christian, leader in a multi-religious, multi-ethnic country. It is to serve all its citizens to the best of your ability without fear or favour or discrimination. It is to act in a manner that is in keeping with the best traditions of your faith, so that you earn for your religion not ridicule, but respect.
 
Ultimately, people like Nasir are standing against a very strong evil current. The power of that current should not be underestimated and they could well be drowned by it or swept aside. But for now they are still standing. What they need is simple. They need more and more Nigerians to stand up with them. For more politicians, religious leaders, armed forces personnel, civil servants, bankers, intellectuals, labour leaders, emirs and chiefs etc to say “no” to the system we have been running so far and which has led us into this abyss out of which we are just trying to crawl.
 
If you cannot raise your voice, much less your head, to be counted among those who stand for change, then please do this one small thing for me. Say, along with me, whisper if you like, a silent prayer: “May Allah protect them, may Allah help them, may Allah guide them in changing this country for the better.”

Nasir is one of a handful of cabinet appointments made by Obasanjo since he came to power in 1999 that Nigerians can be truly proud of.

I agree with that!

Nice article, Sanusi is truly a SCHOLAR!!!