The theatre of the absurd...

There are two things that I promised myself would be untouchable by this blog; one is religion and the other is politics. However, I find that I cannot remain silent anymore. I, with much regret, have to break that promise. I need to vent!!! In the spirit of full disclosure, although I don't personally know the former minister Nasir El Rufai and have never met him, my father-in -law was his older brothers classmate in secondary school. Note that since then, in over forty years, my father-in-law has set eyes on neither Ali, the older brother nor Nasir himself. I am however horrified at the public lynching going on in Abuja, under the guise of the Public Hearing of FCT matters. I know that people say he is an arrogant so and so and tries to make up for his small stature by overreaching in his ambitions. He also is said to have a condescending manner about him towards others especially because of his high IQ and his genius which he never fails to exhibit. Not everything he did was above board but in a nation where public officials do not perform, his tenure must be held up as exemplary. The obvious target of the probe had all along been Nasir El Rufai but of course the panel of 'distinguished senators' assured us that they were probing the last three Ministers from about 12 years ago. We believed them because after all 'so are they all, all honourable men'. And so it started, the theatre of the absurd. The senate panel said that their terms of reference are demolitions of illegal structures, revocations of plots, sale of Federal Govt. houses and the sanitisation of the corrupt FCDA management structure, which were all during El Rufai's tenure. DUH!!! Truly a prophet is never recognised in his village. Note that the Chairman of the panel, Senator Sodangi, had butted heads several times with El Rufai during OBJ's tenure. El rufai came in with the mandate to restore the master plan which had been bastardised by successive governments in their selfish interests. Green areas that were earmarked to be parks and recreation areas were allocated to the rich and mighty. They built their mansions and offices. Ordinary folks also took over certain parts of the town and built houses anywhere and without building approvals. The city was fast becoming ' marokoish'. El Rufai took that on without fear or favour. For too long in Nigeria, we have had one law for the rich and another for the poor but El Rufai knocked down structures regardless of where you stood on the social ladder. Senator Sodangi was affected as his Law Chambers, built on Wuse Zone 4 park was knocked down. But we believe him when he says he will be impartial because afterall 'so are they all, all honourable men'. Several illegally allocated plots were also revoked as well as undeveloped plots. On the acknowledgement slip of every allocation letter, there is the clause that the FCDA will revoke any plot that is not developed after two years. Some of the revoked plots had been undeveloped for 15 years. Senator Sodangi's three plots were so revoked but of course he is unbiased because afterall 'so are they all, all honourable men'. El Rufai was mandated to supervise the sale of Fed. Govt houses. Most objective onlookers agree that the process was transparent and fair. For the first time in Nigeria, ordinary civil servants were given the opportunity to buy their houses through mortgages. Now it has come out that the Senators requested for 58 houses but were disappointed because they were offered only 10 flats, which were beneath them and so rejected the offer. However, we should believe that they are not bitter because afterall ' so are they all, all honourable men'. Before El Rufai, there were over 30,000 applications for land in Abuja. It was impossible to get due to the chokehold that a certain cabal had in the affairs of the FCDA. You needed to 'see' them before your application is processed. El Rufai came, decentralised and computerised the system and removed the kingpins, Senator Sodangi's junior brother inclusive. But of course, they are all honourable men and will be totally impartial. El rufai cleared the backlog of applications and allocated an unprecedented 27,000 plots. My aunt had an application in FCDA for 17 years since the time of Gado Nasko. When El Rufai came, he insisted that people recertify their applications. She reluctantly did and was flabbergasted when her name appeared in the papers along with other allotees. She did not have to see anyone and is now a proud owner of land in Kaura. As I said before, he is not without fault and it seemed that in the pursuit of his set objectives, diplomacy and tact are not in his vocabulary. He therefore stepped on so many toes especially toes of people who always had authority deferring to them. He is now accused of so many things but I will withhold my opinion until after his defense. The senators now seem reluctant to have him testify but how can you accuse someone without giving him a chance to respond? All I know is that usually there are two sides to story and we can hardly wait until next week when ElRufai is scheduled to testify.