FORMER Minister of the Federal
Capital Territory (FCT), Mallam
Nasir el-Rufai has said that one
of the reasons the late President
Umaru Yar’Adua failed in office
was owing to lack of self
confidence.
In his 628-page memoir entitled,
The Accidental Public Servant, el-
Rufai said that Yar’Adua always
fretted and felt insecure among
brilliant minds; hence he avoided
surrounding himself with
enough competent hands who
could disagree with him based
on superior arguments.
According to the former minister,
it was in the character of the
deceased to find a way to end a
relationship, once he discovered
one to be outspoken, intelligent
and independent-minded.
He said it was because of his
deep understanding of the
personality of the late president
that he (el-Rufai) chose not to
work with him while in office so
as not to damage their cordial
relationship.
el-Rufai said: “Knowing Umaru
better overtime and longer than
most people that worked with
him as president, I was
convinced that working with him
would damage our cordial
relationship. One of Umaru’s
basic problems was that he was
insecure and could therefore be
irrational about many things.
“Part of the reasons I think he
failed as president was that this
deep insecurity prevented him
from surrounding himself with
enough numbers of competent,
independent-minded people
who could disagree with him.
This is because good people
often have strong opinions and
necessarily disagree with others,
including their leaders. They are
naturally confident, outspoken
and will not always agree with
the leader’s views and will say so.
“Umaru had no tolerance at all
for people who argued or
disagreed with him.
“Once a person disagreed with
Umaru once or twice, that
person would never have access
to him, ever again, he would just
block him out.”
The former minister also revealed
that governance began to suffer
barely 100 days after Yar’Adua
assumed office because he felt
intimidated by the volume of
work and challenges of the office
of president.
El-Rufai claimed the late governor
of Katsina State kept in touch
with him, saying that he
“perpetually needed to see me, to
request help,” which he obliged
the late the president by way of
meetings.
“But then when we would sit
down again, it was as though
the previous conversation had
never happened and we would
start all over. ‘I need you around
here, he uttered this phrase to
me more than thrice that
summer and then periods of
radio silence followed, despite
the intermittent requests for
some involvement.
“What was happening behind
the scenes, and I say this only
after hearing it from multiple
sources who were on the inside,
was that after those first 100
days or so, Yar’Adua had given
up on being able to run the
Federal Government. His first
week, the amount of paperwork
that came to his desk was so
overwhelming. He could not
believe that the president was
required to read all those memos
and approve or comment on
each one,” el-Rufai stated.
Recalling that the late president
was nicknamed Bad Man by
students of Barewa College, Zaria,
where the former minister said
he first met Yar’Adua in 1972, he
said Yar’Aadua “drank all the
time, smoked a lot, was not a
strict disciplinarian at all.
“He was quite bright though, and
despite reportedly sleeping away
his two years of A-Levels and
mostly missing classes, he still
made good enough grades to be
admitted into university at a time
when most people failed all four
A-Level papers.”
Buhari, Uwais, Sanusi, govs grace
book launch
Meanwhile, Major-General
Muhammadu Buhari (retd), on
Thursday rejected the notion that
what the country needs to excel
are strong institutions, saying
that rather, what Nigeria needs is
actually a strong leader.
President Goodluck Jonathan has
always harped on the need to
develop strong institutions as a
way to place Nigeria on the
appropriate pedestal for
development.
But speaking in Abuja as a co-
presenter of the book written by
el-Rufai, the former head of state
agreed that while there was the
need for strong institutions,
those of Nigeria have been
destroyed and now required
strong hands to rebuild them.
He observed that institutions
were strong in other countries
because “the technocrats there
allow the politicians to mess up
themselves but make sure the
right thing is done, but in Nigeria
here, those who think they are
strong destroy the institutions.”
He added: “Paradoxically, we
need strong people back to
rebuild the institutions.”
In a thinly veiled reference to the
present administration, the
former presidential candidate
regretted that so much money
was being appropriated to
security to the detriment of other
vital sectors of the nation’s
economy without the desired
result.
He noted that while the late
Premier of Northern Region, Sir
Ahmadu Bello allocated 43 per
cent of the budget to education
and his colleague in the Western
Region devoted more than 55
per cent, the present government
was allocating 2 per cent or 5
per cent of its budget to
education and the rest on
security.”
Buhari said that the country did
not need leaders “who talk glibly
about this nation and they don’t
know how to develop the
nation.”
Speaking on the book, he praised
the courage of the author but
remarked: “How I wish I knew
he would write this book, I
would not have spoken to him
the way I did.”
The chief presenter of the book
and governor of Lagos State,
Babatunde Fashola, said in his
remarks that the book would
connect the people to the
“compelling necessity to ensure
that only first eleven are
entrusted with the nation’s
destiny.”
Governor Tanko Al-Makura of
Nasarawa State was of the view
that el-Rufai “is indeed a
controversial person,” adding
that the general perception of
the former minister “is that he is
arrogant, disrespectful, but
despite this, he is simply a man
you cannot ignore, a man who is
frank to a fault.”
Governor Babangida Aliyu of
Niger State observed that the
recent merger of four opposition
political parties was welcome as
it would ensure that “riff-raffs”
do not find their way to
positions of authority in the
country.
In his remark, Governor of
Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN),
Lamido Sanusi Lamido, stated
that the problem with the
country “is our total disregard
for merit and competence.”
He added: “We should stop
asking where one is from or
what religion he belongs but
what do you have to offer. We
should begin to judge people by
their character and not by their
affiliation.”
He also said that people should
be honest enough to tell their
bosses the truth rather than be
sycophants.
In a message he sent in, former
governor of Lagos State, Senator
Bola Tinubu, observed that the
book has opened a door that
“leads us into seeing up, close
and personal what Nigeria is and
how those that wield power
behave and misbehave.”
According to him, “Thanks to
Nasir, we now know that most of
our leaders are soon overcome
and consumed by their unbridled
lust for power and that the
public or Nigerians are mere
irritants.

Most of the contributions directly thump retardeen on the head as guilty for he indeed is the weakest and most clueless leader since Nigeria was ever known. The lapdogs and Okupe are soon coming to lick their oga's shyte in defending the useless retardeen.

Why are some Nairalanders programmed to either hate or love. No independent minded analysis on a given thread.

Moderation is a great virtue

Anyhow, is your life, do as you like but don't enter into trouble before you can retrace your step.