Yar’adua gave up governance within first 100 days —el-rufai •Security agencies probe new book, may arrest el-Rufai.

FORMER Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Mallam Nasir el-Rufai has said that one of the reasons the late President Umaru Yar’Adua failed in office was owing to lack of self confidence.

In his 628-page memoir entitled, The Accidental Public Servant, el-Rufai said that Yar’Adua always fretted and felt insecure among brilliant minds; hence he avoided surrounding himself with enough competent hands who could disagree with him based on superior arguments. 

According to the former minister, it was in the character of the deceased to find a way to end a relationship, once he discovered one to be outspoken, intelligent and independent-minded.  

He said it was because of his deep understanding of the personality of the late president that he (el-Rufai) chose not to work with him while in office so as not to damage their cordial relationship.

el-Rufai said: “Knowing Umaru better overtime and longer than most people that worked with him as president, I was convinced that working with him would damage our cordial relationship. One of Umaru’s basic problems was that he was insecure and could therefore be irrational about many things.

“Part of the reasons I think he failed as president was that this deep insecurity prevented him from surrounding himself with enough numbers of competent, independent-minded people who could disagree with him. This is because good people often have strong opinions and necessarily disagree with others, including their leaders. They are naturally confident, outspoken and will not always agree with the leader’s views and will say so.

“Umaru had no tolerance at all for people who argued or disagreed with him.

“Once a person disagreed with Umaru once or twice, that person would never have access to him, ever again, he would just block him out.”

The former minister also revealed that governance began to suffer barely 100 days after Yar’Adua assumed office because he felt intimidated by the volume of work and challenges of the office of president.

El-Rufai claimed the late governor of Katsina State kept in touch with him, saying that  he “perpetually needed to see me, to request help,” which he obliged the late the president by way of meetings.

“But then when we would sit down again, it was as though the previous conversation had never happened and we would start all over. ‘I need you around here, he uttered this phrase to me more than thrice that summer and then periods of radio silence followed, despite the intermittent requests for some involvement.

“What was happening behind the scenes, and I say this only after hearing it from multiple sources who were on the inside, was that after those first 100 days or so, Yar’Adua had given up on being able to run the Federal Government. His first week, the amount of paperwork that came to his desk was so overwhelming. He could not believe that the president was required to read all those memos and approve or comment on each one,” el-Rufai stated.

Recalling that the late president was nicknamed Bad Man by students of Barewa College, Zaria, where the former minister said he first met Yar’Adua in 1972, he said Yar’Aadua “drank all the time, smoked a lot, was not a strict disciplinarian at all.

“He was quite bright though, and despite reportedly sleeping away his two years of A-Levels and mostly missing classes, he still made good enough grades to be admitted into university at a time when most people failed all four A-Level papers.”Keep you updated.......