[size=14pt]El-Rufai insists Buhari is unelectable [/size]
By Segun Balogun

Mohammadu Buhari’s record as a military head of state will perpetually render him unelectable because Nigerians will never desire a repeat of such administration, said Nasir El-Rufai, former FCT Minister.

Reacting to statements made by the Mohammadu Buhari’s party, Congress for Progressive Change (CPC), regarding the advice he gave the retired army general to retire from politics, Mr. El-Rufai, in a statement on Monday, said age is certainly a factor in the coming presidential election since Ibrahim Babangida has already defamed young Nigerians as unfit for national leadership.

[size=14pt]“While it is true that neither youth nor age supplies wisdom on their own, it makes sense to ask those who have been recurring decimals in our country’s sorry history to leave the stage. I’m amazed that General Buhari cannot debate this matter without scurrying to the gutter, making claims that are baseless and unsupported by any facts,” said Mr. El-Rufai, describing Mr. Buhari’s leadership style as parochial and insensitive to Nigeria’s diverse background.[/size]

He asked whether “the failure [of Mr. Buhari and Mr. Babangida] to do their best for Nigeria when they had the chance qualifies them for a return to office. Our people surely deserve better.”

He was obviously irked by the claims made by CPC regarding his administration as a federal minister, describing them as fictitious and prejudicial.

“Despite the difficult decisions that had to be taken to restore Abuja, Mallam El-Rufai continues to receive deserved praise and recognition for his achievements in restoring the Abuja master plan, introducing Nigeria’s first computerised land registry, and helping thousands of Nigerians achieve their dreams of home ownership in the federal capital,” the statement said.

A reminder

“In 1984, Buhari allowed 53 suitcases belonging to his ADC’s father, to enter Nigeria unchecked, at a time the country was exchanging old currency for new. Against all canons of legal decency, he used retroactive laws to execute three young men for drug-peddling after they were convicted by a military tribunal, and not regular courts of law.

“Buhari was so high handed that he gave himself and his officials immunity, even from truthful reporting. That obnoxious Decree 4, against which truth was no defence, was used to jail journalists and attempt to cow the media as a whole. That tyrannical legislation shows the essence of his intolerance.

These are facts of recent history,” the statement said.

A new mindset

Mr. El-Rufai said it will take more than slander to become electable in 2011 because Nigerians will rather cherish an intellectual discourse about their daily problems.

While saying he still respects both Buhari and Babangida as elder statesmen, he emphasised his belief that their age, experience, and guidance are best used to contribute to the success of any future government.

Mr. Buhari, according to him, is not the kind of leader that can move the country forward because “now is the time for a new generation of leaders with new thinking and wholesome democratic attitude.

[size=14pt]“The vicious response by the Buhari camp to a simple statement that their almost-70 principal should retire, is proof enough that a Buhari, the new Democrat, tolerant of views different from his own, is yet to evolve. And that is sad, for his fledgling party and its leadership,” the statement said.[/size]

http://234next.com/csp/cms/sites/Next/News/National/5626686-146/el-rufai_insists_buhari_is_unelectable_.csp

Your link no dey open . Would have loved to reference this double tongued eedioot.

@OP

Bakare said the same thing.

Rad1cal:

Your link no dey open . Would have loved to reference this double tongued eedioot.

It opens, I just tried it. But if you still can't get it to work, try googling "buhari is unelectable el rufai." It should be the first search result.

There is a man in Republican politics in the US currently vying for nomination of his party as president in this year's presidential election in the US in fall. His name is Ron Paul and his age is 77, as in three scores, one decade and additional seven years to boot. His supporters are vibrant youths and college students who admired him for his down to heart honestly and integrity.
For El-Rufai to say Buhari is unelectable because of his age is narcissist psycho-talk. He speaks for himself and not the multitude who are interested in  wrestling power from the sadist regime currently occupying Aso Rock.

BlackPikiN:

@OP

Bakare said the same thing.

My broda, fork-tongued scarabs like Tunde Bakare are to be pitied. This is what the hypocritical false prophet claimed the Good Lord whispered to him in 1999:

[size=13pt]Bakare said, “Let me tell you the truth by the spirit of God, neither (President Olusegun Obasanjo), OBJ, Atiku (Abubakar), IBB and this tall one, (Muhammadu) Buhari are part of the new. They are part of the old that is decaying. That old one is passing away. The new is emerging and these ones are not part of that new.”

. . .

"Neither Buhari nor IBB nor Obasanjo nor Atiku will be part of the new Nigeria. They are part of the old that has decayed and is still decaying. The new is coming forth. It is the counsel of the Lord that shall stand in this nation. Until the sons of turmoil destroy themselves, this nation will not know peace." [/size]

Beaf you talk of hypocricy

WHY DID IWEALA TELL US NOW THAT WE ARE STILL PAYING DEBTS ? IN 2012

WHY why do we keep borrowing money ?

[size=13pt]I THOUGHT the 1 BILLION DOLLARS WE PAY YEARLY TO THE PARIS CLUB WOULD BE USE FOR ?[/size]

Look at Iweala Okonjo


Nigeria's external debt stands presently at US$34 billion. About $28 billion or 85% of the debt is owed to the Paris Club of 15 creditor nations. Only 8% of the debt is owed to multilateral institutions such as the African Development Bank and the World Bank whilst the balance of 7% is owed to the London Club of commercial creditors and holders of Promissory Notes. Nigeria does not owe the IMF any money. The first fact therefore is that Nigeria's debt problem is really "a Paris Club debt problem"

[b]If Nigeria were to fully service its external debt every year, annual debt service would amount to approximately US$3 billion - $2.3 billion to the Paris club, and $0.7 billion to the multilateral and commercial creditors. The ownership structure of the debt is such that the federal government pays 75% of the debt service whilst 25% approximately is serviced by the states. Therefore, fully servicing the $3 billion every year would mean that the federal government would have very little left for the capital budget over the next 5 to 7 years as the federal government's portion of such debt service would virtually eat up all of the capital budget, especially when it is considered that we also have domestic debt service amounting to about $1.4 billion a year.
[/b]
Please note that I am talking about our capital budget after factoring in the portion we have agreed to share on excess crude. The question is how many Nigerians would be prepared to live with little or no federal government capital budget for the next decade whilst we pay debt? I don't think anyone would subscribe to that. That is why we successfully argued with the[b] Paris Club to keep our present payments to them at US1 billion a year with another $0.7 going to multilateral and commercial creditors for a total external debt service of $1.7 billion a year or approximately 56% of the amount due.[/b]

Whilst this situation gives us temporary relief to enable us sort out some of our investment needs and compelling current obligations such as expenditures on education and health, it does not provide a sustainable or permanent solution because the amount we don't pay keeps piling up as arrears and gets added to the principal amount making the debt larger. The bottom line is that even with the current high oil prices we cannot afford to service all of our debt unless we are really prepared to commit to very limited investment in our physical and human resources for the next ten to 15 years. We cannot also afford to allow the debt to pile up. So this means that , like other countries that have found themselves in similar situations at one time or another, we must search for a permanent workable solution to our debt problem.

The search for debt relief is therefore a vital financial and economic issue for the country. Anyone who says otherwise is not looking at the facts and in matters like these, we must be factual and not sentimental to ensure we get the best results for the country. Nigeria does not belong to the group of Highly Indebted Poor Countries (HIPCs), although the country's poor socio-economic indices are similar to those of the HIPC countries. Unlike Nigeria, HIPC countries owe the bulk of their debts to multilateral development institutions like the ADB and the World Bank. The present initiative being developed by British Chancellor of the Exchequer, Gordon Brown seeks to assist the HIPC countries with their multilateral debts by getting them forgiven or cancelled in full (i.e 100%), or repaid to the multilateral institutions on their behalf. Nigeria does not seek to be a HIPC country. But we are saying that we too deserve consideration under another approach set up by the G- 8 countries called the EVIAN approach (because it was decided at the G8 Heads of State summit in Evian, France, two years ago). Under this approach, countries' debt situation and the possibility for debt forgiveness will be considered on a case by case basis, depending on the peculiar circumstances of each country and the country's ability to demonstrate progress with economic reform.

The G8 and the Paris Club have in the past considered other countries which are much better off than Nigeria on a case by case basis. Examples are Poland, Yugoslavia, Egypt and, lately, Iraq. These countries were granted debt relief. We were not considered because of our previous poor track record with reform and our unilateral cessation of dialogue with them. Now that we are implementing reforms, there is everything right with Nigeria seeking debt relief because we cannot manage to pay the amounts due over the next decade without starving the country of money needed for investment and for poverty reduction programmes and projects.

[size=13pt]Nigeria needs resources for public investment in roads, power, water, education, health, agriculture and other areas. In fact, recent estimates show that if we are to make adequate progress on growth and poverty reduction, particularly achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) of halving poverty by the year 2015,[/size] we need to grow at about 7 to 8% per annum and this requires an incremental investment of over $7 billion a year in the sectors just indicated. The developed countries have said that they would like to help developing countries which are managing their economies well by channeling resources to them to assist in achieving the MDGs. Part of the incentives they are considering is forgiving debt so that instead of repaying them, debtor countries can channel the funds into investments in the core areas noted above. All we are saying is that Nigeria is ripe to be considered for this kind of debt treatment along with others.

We have been implementing our own home grown reform program - NEEDS - and the results for last year have been quite positive. GDP growth was 6% compared to a 5% target. Average annual inflation came down from 22% to 15%, while point to point inflation (December to December) came down from 23% to 10%. This was not the single digit inflation we targeted but we came pretty close at 10%. The fiscal deficit at $25 a barrel was 1.9% of GDP, better than the 2.1% we targeted and the reserves recorded healthy growth again from $7 billion to $19 billion thus ensuring that our exchange rate remains fairly stable.

On the anti-corruption and transparency front, everyone knows we have a huge problem and an incredible challenge, but our development partners openly acknowledge now that we have been demonstrating willingness and resolve to be more transparent and to deal with corruption. We are publishing the revenues which all tiers of government get each month and we have even published a booklet showing what all tiers got for the first five years of President Obasanjo's administration. We are running a successful procurement reform called Due Process and everyone acknowledges that Due Process is working well. We have launched the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) to better expose and make transparent oil industry accounts and understand the structure of expenditure and revenue in the sector. We have the acclaimed efforts of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), which is making strides in bringing economic criminals to book, sometimes against all odds. We have intensified efforts to find our looted funds abroad and bring the funds home - something that not many developing countries have managed to do.

We now monitor our budget implementation and give half yearly reports to the National Assembly and the Nigerian public - something that was not available before. We are improving on this by adding a mechanism in this budget year 2005 to track poverty related expenditures to ensure we can trace the results on the ground in respect of money going to certain key sectors from the budget. We are now working with several competent and willing state governments to get the same kinds of mechanisms introduced at the state level. While huge challenges remain, these efforts have convinced many of our partners that monies from debt relief (75% of which will go to the federal government) will be well used and well monitored.

L[b]et me conclude by saying that while Nigeria is potentially a rich country, it is presently a poor country and must therefore manage its resources wisely and well. Our total oil revenues last year were no more than $25 billion net. When it is spread over our large population of 130 million people, as I said elsewhere, this translates to no more than 53 cents or 70 naira per person per day. Compare this with Venezuela with 23.5 million people and $3.4 per person per day, Kuwait with 2.75 million people and $27.3 per person per day, or even Iraq with 25 million people and $2.4 per person per day and you will see that Nigeria, even in the best possible circumstances, is facing serious financial challenges.[/b]

That is why we are also focusing on improving our non-oil revenues. That is why we are making a sustained effort to plug all leakages and discourage rent-seeking behaviour. That is why our reform programme aims at creating an enabling environment including a rational system of incentives and values, characteristic of a private sector driven economy. The road is hard and long but together, these efforts would assist in wealth creation and poverty reduction for Nigerians. No one can guarantee that we'll get debt relief. We might make all the efforts and still not get it. But there is no reason why we shouldn't try our very best to qualify and then leave the rest in God's hands!

The developed countries say they want to assist African countries more this year and going forward. The UK, in particular, has said that the focus of its chairmanship of the G-8 and the EU this year will be Africa. They have produced the Commission for Africa report indicating specific ways they want to assist African countries, including through granting debt relief. Since we are already working hard to improve our economy for the benefit of our people through NEEDS, we should not be shy to leverage our efforts into asking for consideration for debt relief. Not trying at all would be a disservice to our people.

Okonjo-Iweala is the Minister of Finance.

Ignore the PDP sockpuppet.

http://www.nigerianmuse.com/important_documents/?u=Iweala_Understanding_Nigeria_debt_situation.htm

[size=15pt]Beaf explain the money paid yearly to paris club, What was used to do since we do not pay it again ?[/size]

Moreover didn't iweala promise the same thing in 2005, WHAT YEAR ARE WE IN NOW 2012

I think someone is playing the dirty hypocrisy game here. The interviewhttp://sunnewsonline.com/webpages/news/national/2012/jan/08/national-08-01-2012-005.html from Sun Newspapers by El-Rufai extols the virtues of Gen Buhari. @ Topic and this interview are divergent from each other!

I will say this again.
Buhari and El-Rufai should burn in hell!

jmaine:

And your point is . . . .

I think his point is, the provision of further proof that El Rufai is indeed a hypocrite.
Say one thing in the night, wake in the morning and say another thing; its the same epiphany that happened to Tunde Bakare, the false prophet with a forked-tongue.

BlackPikiN:

I will say this again.
Buhari and El-Rufai should burn in hell!

Ok we have heard

But they are not in power now or are they ?

Can't you see that we all should demand accountablity for PDP, ACN, TINUBU, Ameachi, Madueke, Iweala etc

can't you see

Beaf:

I think his point is, the provision of further proof that El Rufai is indeed a hypocrite.
Say one thing in the night, wake in the morning and say another thing; its the same epiphany that happened to Tunde Bakare, the false prophet with a forked-tongue.

WHat of Iweala ?

1 billion dollars we pay to paris clud, where is it

are the schools, health center etc built ?

The article was old and was dated October 05, 2010, when El-Rufai belongs to the opposing camp. That was the hypocrisy that I was alluding to on the part of the poster. In politics there are no permanent enemies but permanent interests.

Abeem:

The article was old and was dated October 05, 2010, when El-Rufai belongs to the opposing camp. That was the hypocrisy that I was alluding to on the part of the poster. In politics there is no permanent enemies but permanent interests.

So he changed camp and changed his words too? Lol!
My guy, that is the very definition of the words, HYPOCRITE and DISHONEST.

alj_harem

Your hate for this woman has beclouded your thoughts and reasoning, what debts are you talking about? Give me timelines, perhaps I can help you out with your question. Less likely than not, I do not support our leaders position like I did not support her budget, but why would I want to hound at something that makes no relevance. Again, provide me timelines, I will very the info and probably, I'll try to answer you.

erm. . .what is the purpose of this thread?

does it change the fact that the GEJ administration is the most useless , prfligrate and incompetent in the history of nigeria?

does it change the fact that the op is a paid thug who sold his soul to mammon?

''Nigerians made a very big mistake not electing General Muhammadu Buhari'' -El Rufai in 2012
Rewind to 2010 ''Buhari is unelectable'' -El Rufai in 2010.

El Rufai is a worthless piece of shyyte.
What double speak, what flip flopping, all in a space of 2 years?

[size=14pt]Nigerians made a mistake not electing Buhari –El-Rufai[/size]

extract. . . .

The removal of fuel subsidy was greeted with mixed feelings. How do you see the action of President Goodluck Jonathan?

Well, I have already written about this fuel subsidy conundrum and I think that the timing and the deceit that went around the removal of the fuel subsidy is the main reason people are angry. I think the government has missed the point of peoples' anger about the fuel subsidy. It is not an economic argument; it is not a political argument because some of the people in government are accusing some of us in the opposition of being opposed to it for political reasons. It is more than that. It is a trust issue. Nigerians do not trust this government to use the resources well and there is nothing the government can do to earn that trust unless they get the work of the people done. This government has earned $200 billion from the sale of crude oil and taxes in the last four years and it has done nothing with it. Why would another $7 billion make the difference?

If you were President at this moment, how would you handle the situation?

As I said, the issue is one of trust. If another government was in power, let us assume General Buhari was the President of Nigeria, he would not withdraw the subsidy. He will fix the problem. He will audit who is taking the money in the subsidy, who is paying what, how the money multiply three times in one year and fish out the thieves and deal with them.

So, why do you think Jonathan lacks the political will to deal with them?

[b]Because they financed his election. But Buhari would have sorted that out. That is the first thing to do. Now, while you are paying the subsidy, even one quarter of what you are paying is a lot. General Buhari's administration would have ensured that within 12 months all the refineries are working at full capacity. His administration would have built the fourth refinery that will bring our domestic production to the point that we don't need to import a single drop of petrol. And once we can produce our petrol from our own crude oil, at out own cost, we can sell it at any price we like. That is what Buhari's government would have done. Nigerians made a very big mistake for not electing Buhari, and they are learning every day. Many people have told me that they voted for Jonathan and they are regretting it now.
There is no question of Buhari withdrawing subsidy because he has been Petroleum Minister, Chairman of Petroleum Trust Fund (PTF) and so on. He built three out of the four refineries we have in this country. And he built that out of patriotism to ensure that we can produce domestically. So, the question of withdrawing subsidy would not even be on the table.[/b]


Let's talk about the security situation in the country. You are a Northerner and the Boko Haram sect happens to be a Northern group. How do you view its activities?

I don't like thinking of myself as a Northerner. I see myself as a Nigerian that happens to have been born in one part of Nigeria. Now, nobody knows really whether Boko Haram is from the North or from anywhere. Nobody knows for sure because their leaders were killed. Now, anybody can come to my house and plant bomb and say it is Boko Haram.

A few days ago, I saw on the internet pictures of some people covering their faces, wearing jeans and saying that they are Boko Haram; that Southerners should leave the North. I am sure that those people are not Boko Haram. Boko Haram people don't wear jeans. They wear Kaftan and their trousers are like this (folding his trouser to demonstrate the kind of trousers the Boko Haram members wear). There are people that are claiming to be Boko Haram and they are not because nobody knows who is Boko Haram. So anyone can make the claim. I think that what we have in Boko Haram and other insurgencies is not only Boko Haram.

The Oodua Peoples Congress (OPC) paraded through Lagos, shooting in the air and the police ran into hiding. There are kidnappers all over the South-East. Insurgence in Niger Delta; these are all a symptom of the breakdown of the capacity of the state and unless the government stands up and secure the lives and property of the people, they are leading us towards failure. I believe that beyond Boko Haram, which is a metaphor for dissatisfaction with the state, there is something going on. There are forces within the government and outside the government collaborating to try to throw this country into crisis. I do not believe that some of these things in the name of Boko Haram and so on and so forth are (done by) Boko Haram.

That means the issue of Northern politicians sponsoring Boko Haram is baseless?


If Northern politicians are sponsoring them, they should name them. They should stop threatening that we know the sponsors. If you know the sponsors, why are they still working the streets? If you are a real government and you have your information, why are they not in court, being charged for what they are doing to this state?

http://sunnewsonline.com/webpages/news/national/2012/jan/08/national-08-01-2012-005.html

Beaf:

So he changed camp and changed his words too? Lol!
My guy, that is the very definition of the words, HYPOCRITE and DISHONEST.

No doubt. But I want to think that you are uncharitable for circulating stale news and passing it on as current, thereby purposely electing to misinform the forum. You're as duplicitous as the person you are condemning and you should learn to remove the speck in your eyes first before removing it from others.

Both El Rufai and Buhari are part of the problem, that's why Rufai talks with both his butt cheeks, and Buhari- a couptist, is always insisting to be a party's presidential candidate election in election out.

Abeem:

No doubt. But I want to think that you are uncharitable for circulating stale news and passing it on as current, thereby purposely electing to misinform the forum. You're as duplicitous as the person you are condemning and you should learn to remove the speck in your eyes first before removing it from others.

Dude, that is so lame!
There are even articles from the 60's and earlier posted here, yet Seun and his NLers have never thrown a tantrum.

The whole point of this thread is to prove that El Rufai is both dishonest and hypocritical, a man who will tell large volumes of lies at the drop of a hat; I am glad you have accepted that. Articles like this are called, documentary proof.

Beaf:

So he changed camp and changed his words too? Lol!
My guy, that is the very definition of the words, HYPOCRITE and DISHONEST.

What about the foul mouthed Reuben Abati? 2009 speech and camp compared with 2012 speech and camp

Like someone rightly said earlier, in politics the are no permanent friends or enemies but permanent interests. It is normal for El rufai to support and oppose buhari at diff point in time. Especially when u consider the true person of Buhari and the fact that they are brothers(both northerners) and contested for presidential seat at diff times.

@beaf, ur attempt to make any truly viable option to Gej look dishonest once again has failed woefully.

Concerning Oil Subsidy Removal, someone also mentioned above that this govt has gone through $200b in 4 yrs and there is no sign of progress, what do u think $8b will do in the hands of such govt.

sheyguy:

Like someone rightly said earlier, in politics the are no permanent friends or enemies but permanent interests. It is normal for El rufai to support and oppose buhari at diff point in time. Especially when u consider the true person of Buhari and the fact that they are brothers(both northerners) and contested for presidential seat at diff times.

@beaf, your attempt to make any truly viable option to Gej look dishonest once again has failed woefully.

Concerning Oil Subsidy Removal, someone also mentioned above that this govt has gone through $200b in 4 yrs and there is no sign of progress, what do u think $8b will do in the hands of such govt.

Just like El Rufai, you cover up your hypocrisy and dishonesty with ambigious phrases like, "someone also mentioned."
Crap.

El Rufai is a fork-tongued liar, and this thread proves it.

@Beaf and Jmaine
Some guys are worse off than the politicians for whom integrity and honesty are in short supply. We know them for who they are - always drifting from one point of view to another depending on the circumstance and the prevailing situation much like the proverbial fair-weather friends. They will desert you when the goings get tough and rubbish your reputation to curry the favor of another.
My concern is the rest of us, the non-politicians. We should always put on our thinking cap and not allow politicians to hoodwink us with their smooth talk and oration to distract us from thinking right and seeing through their action - which is essentially to deceive whether they are the El-Rufais or Jonathans of this world. It does not matter. They are two sides of the same coin.

@jmaine
No mind am jare!
Recorded history cannot be changed.

Abeem:

@Beaf and Jmaine
Some guys are worse off than the politicians for whom integrity and honesty are in short supply. We know them for who they are - always drifting from one point of view to another depending on the circumstance and the prevailing situation much like the proverbial fair-weather friends. They will desert you when the goings get tough and rubbish your reputation to curry the favor of another.
My concern is the rest of us, the non-politicians. We should always put on our thinking cap and not allow politicians to hoodwink us with their smooth talk and oration to distract us from thinking right and seeing through their action - which is essentially to deceive whether they are the El-Rufais or Jonathans of this world. It does not matter. They are two sides of the same coin.

If your concerns above are honest, then join us in condemning dishonest hypocrites like El Rufai, instead of attempting to derail the thread.
El Rufai is a shameless liar.

Incredible. Within the space of One year plus.

Beaf:

@jmaine
No mind am jare!
Recorded history cannot be changed.

If your concerns above are honest, then join us in condemning dishonest hypocrites like El Rufai, instead of attempting to derail the thread.
El Rufai is a shameless liar.

Why single out only El-Rufai? I think Jonathan is as culpable as the man you love to hate and hate to love, even worst.