Kaduna state Governor, Nasir el-Rufai, is not sorry that his leaked memo to President Muhammadu Buhari offended some people.
In the 30-page document, which went viral last week, el-Rufai asked Buhari to make changes in his government as some if his aides and appointees are selfish and inexperienced.
The Governor named the President’s Chief of Staff, Abba Kyari and the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Babachir Lawal as exambles.
He wrote: “The secretary to the government of the federation and the chief of staff do not have experience in public service, lack humility in addition to being insensitive and rude to virtually most of the party leaders, ministers and governors.
“The chief of staff is totally clueless about the APC and its internal politics at best as he was neither part of its formation nor a participant in the primaries, campaign, and elections.
“In summary, neither of them has the personality, experience, and the reach to manage your politics nationally or even regionally.”
He said the All Progressives Congress (APC) has taken the country from bad to worse due to lack of proactive decisions by Buhari.
In an interview published by Daily Trust on Sunday, March 26, el-Rufai denied leaking the memo to the media, revealing that he has written over 20 of such letters in the past.
When asked if the memo has not caused disagreement between him and the people he named in it, he said: “I know Abba Kyari well, he will not disagree with what I wrote there. He knows it to be true and he is not hearing for the first time.”
el-Rufai added: “Many people have complained about this, so I don’t think it will cause a strain in my relationship with the chief of staff because we have been friends for so many years. But anyone who feels he is upset because of what I have written, so be it.
On how the memo was leaked, the Governor said he has no reason to send it out to the public, stressing that its not the first memo he would write to Buhari.
He said: “First of all, let me say that this is not the first memo that I have written to the president. From the time I began to interact politically with him since 2010, anytime I saw a situation requiring advice or change in direction, I usually went to discuss with him.
“I always said, ‘I will go and reduce it to writing so you can have a document to reflect upon and decide and guide your action.’
“This is not even the tenth memo I have written to the president. I have probably written more than 20 memos. I did this at various stages – from our days in the Congress for progressive Change (CPC), before the 2011 elections, after the 2011 elections, and during the merger process.
“I have always felt that my duty to him as my political leader is to pick up what he doesn’t hear, because as a lower level person, I get to hear more about what is going on. And if I see things going wrong, I have a duty to go to him and say, ‘This is what I’ve heard, the facts I have established and my advice on the way forward.’
“They are all problem-solving memos, they identify the problems, analyse them and propose solutions. So this is the spirit of all my memoranda to the president from 2010 till date.”
