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El-Rufai's fate still unknown despite apology
ALTHOUGH he may have tendered an apology to the Senate for his alleged derogatory remarks, the Minister of Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Mallam Nasir el-Rufai, is yet to be let off the hook.
The leadership of the Senate is expected to meet with President Olusegun Obasanjo this week to resolve the matter.
At the weekend, it was learnt that some senators still insisted that certain records of the minister when he served on the Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE) should be scrutinised to ensure that they were in tandem with transparency and due process.
The leadership of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), which had also tendered an apology on behalf of the minister, was also making frantic efforts to pacify the lawmakers.
However, some politicians were divided yesterday on whether or not El-Rufai should be forgiven.
While the Conference of Nigerian Political Parties (CNPP) insisted that the minister should be sanctioned, a group, Kpa Kpando Ndigbo said he should be forgiven. The group's view was shared by Chief Cliff Mbagwu, a chieftain of the PDP in Imo State.
In a chat with The Guardian, Chief Maxi Okwu, the CNPP secretary, said El-Rufai should be shown the way out in the interest of democracy and to serve as deterrent to others.
Describing the minister's apology to the Senate as a welcome development, he said the senators must see the development as a signal that they have to sit up and stand firm on issues.
His words: "The CNPP has stated on several occasions that this current National Assembly is lameduck, it is compromised and impotent. So, if the Senate can now get some respect for once by standing firm, they should see it as a signal that they must always stand firm and begin to earn back public confidence."
He continued: "Secondly, the apology first tendered by Obasanjo and then El-Rufai, to me, was like give and take. It was a ruse. Even in that apology, he was threatening the Senate.
"Having said that, the bottom line is that El-Rufai has been indicted by a report of the public accounts committee of the Senate. In more civilised countries and credible democracies, El-Rufai by now would have been in the hot embrace of law enforcement agents. What we are talking about is very serious. Over N20 million was paid to eaglet graduates with little or no experience. They earned about N2 million per month without approval and or authority and going through due process. The vice president minuted on a particular date, they were to be seconded for only three months. But before El-Rufai got the approval of his boss, the vice president who controlled the BPE under the National Council for Privatisation (NCP), he had hired them as assistants and approved mind-boggling salaries for them, which the permanent secretary never approved
"So el-Rufai has flouted the laws of the land and he has not denied it. He should go; no matter how good they claim he is. The apology is for using foul, language. But on principle as deterrent and for democratic norms to be maintained in the country, he should go."
However, Mbagwu in a telephone interview said El-Rufai should be pardoned because he had apologised and moreover "he is undoubtedly one of the most committed members of the government and one of the brightest stars from the North."
Averring that the minister's controversial comment was uncalled for because the Senate is made up of some of the most industrious Nigerians in all fields of human endeavours, he urged the lawmakers to see it as a huge mistake.
"The Senate should forgive him since he has apologised and shown remorse. Pardoning El-Rufai will be a sign of strength rather than weakness. It will earn the senators more respect and show other Nigerians how to relate with one another in the spirit of reconciliation," he added.
Echoing similar views, Kpa Kpando Ndigbo's President, Dr Alloy Awurum, said over the phone that sanctioning the minister would amount "to throwing the baby away with the bath water."
"We in the East are calling on the senators to forgive him. He has learnt his lessons," he stated.
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