POLITICS TODAY

“If you build the guts to do something, anything, then you better save enough to face the consequences.”  
—Criss Jami Killosophy
By Cosmas Omegoh

Kaduna State governor, Mallam Nasir el-Rufai last week set the polity buzzing. He probably was in his best elements when he did so. It was the characteristic el-Rufai many know. Everything about the salvo he fired bore clear marks of his character. Indeed, he did not disappoint. 
El-Rufai, now about to complete a second term as governor, is such a fertile mind. In fact, when he acts, he acts bigger than what many think about him. Once he climbs the big stage, he lets out the fire in his belly. So much about him underscores the undying aphorism that dynamites come in small packs. 
In a nut shell, whenever Governor el-Rufai chooses to speak on issues he feels strongly about, he does so with such amazing guts. For long, many have come to know him as one with a mind of his own – one who speaks his mind each time he is compelled to do so. El-Rufai speaks straight from the heart with fire following his words; they are characteristically power-packed, and with the potential of setting any space aglow. That is the El-Rufai many know. He has been like that from his days as director of  Bureau of Public Enterprise and then Minister of the Federal Capital Territory Minister (2003-2007). 
Last week Wednesday, El-Rufai took up   one of such opportunities to speak to the big issues: the redesigned naira and the pains trailing it, the festering fuel scarcity crisis and much more – all of them clearly vexatious matters which are taking a life of their own. And now, they are dangling over the nation like the proverbial sword of Damocles.    
“I think he has shown by words and deed that he is committed to free, fair and credible elections. And fair, free and credible elections mean not favouring or disfavouring anybody.
“Everywhere he goes, he makes that very clear, even as recently as Friday, when he was in Daura. He said the same thing. So if there’s anybody who’s working against any candidate, we don’t know officially.”
In the words of some analysts, el-Rufai’s last Wednesday’s outing left the citizenry with so much to chew.  
Some people still believe that el-Rufai’s words drip with frustration. Recall that he is a director in the Bola Tinubu campaign office, and in charge of Tinubu/Shettima operations in Kaduna State. Already, some people are beginning to believe that as an insider, he has privileged intelligence many out there do not have. And so when he insists on sabotage, he should be taken seriously.
It is equally being suggested that although el-Rufai did not turn the nozzle directly at Buhari, he feared the president’s much touted aloofness to very serious issues is taking the wind off Bola Tinubu’s electioneering sail.       
Going forward, there are more suggestions that a much bigger chasm within the APC has continued to emerge. Recall that the APC was only knitted together to challenge for power in 2014. Then, strange bed fellows: elements of the new-PDP and other parties joined President Buhari’s Congress for Progressive Change (CPC), Bola Tinubu’s Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN).  Therefore, it is believed that as the curtain gradually falls on the Buhari Presidency, the wedlock is troubled. And perhaps, the silent acclaim right now is “to your tents Oh Israel.”      
Now, hate or love el-Rufai, he gets accolades for directing attention to the new realities that are bludgeoning the APC. But where that leaves the party in the days ahead is what curious Nigerians are eagerly   waiting to see as the elections D-day and H-hour approach.