Goodluck Jonathan Reveals How El’Rufai Orchestrated Campaign of Calumny Against Him

Goodluck Jonathan, former President of Nigeria has revealed how Nasir El’Rufai, the Governor of Kaduna State spearheaded a campaign of calumny against his (Jonathan’s) administration.

Jonathan made this revelation in his new book titled “My Transition Hours”, explaining that his government was spuriously attacked and maligned by the then opposition, the All Progressives Congress, APC, to ensure the Propaganda against him succeeded.

Jonathan further revealed that claims that his government sponsored Boko Haram terrorists was told to gullible Nigerians in order to reduce the number of northern voters that were inclined towards voting for him.

He however noted that the security situation had deteriorated so badly under the administration of his accusers, adding that Nasir El-Rufai, in August 2014, accused him and Ayo Oritsejafor, the then President of the Christian Association of Nigeria, of being Boko Haram sponsors “to spoil Islam’s name.”

Excerpts from the book read ; “The President security could quickly have fired at the source of the missiles, thinking it was the insurgents. But we responded differently. I have always said it and meant it. Nothing I wanted was worth the blood of a human being, least of all, the people I had the direct charge to protect, the people I swore to serve.

“Muhammadu Buhari was in my home state and I proactively ensured that nothing of that sort happened. He was not the president and it would have been easy to return the dubious compliment. There was no shortage of courageous young men ready to carry out such a mission. We could also have denied complicity as they did, but it was not my way.

“Besides not being so base by nature, I would have reduced an office I held in trust and embarrassed my colleague and many others around the world who hold me to certain standards and values. I encouraged my supporters not to dwell on the issue. When I accepted the PDP nomination for re-elections, I had charged myself and my supporters to campaign in peace with hope in our hearts, on the facts and truth on issues and ideas, on our records of performance, not violence. Ours was a campaign of ideas.

“We put it behind us and forged ahead with a clean campaign. The opposition was steeped in negative rhetoric and slurs of all manners. We were not swayed. I campaigned consistently on what we did, what we were doing and what we could still do. My concern was for new ideas and positive ways of doing things. It was essential to purge the do-or-die mentality from our minds. It would take some time but I knew I was making headway in that direction.

“It showed by the massive drop in politically motivated assassinations. It simply vanished because the leader was not interested in killing to win.“They raised a chorus of “Jonathan must go.”

They crafted a pseudo activist image. They loaded the campaign space with a lot of unproven corruption. The propaganda exhibited by the opposition was infinitely worse than anyone they could imagine and they imagined plenty.

The point was to mislead the ordinary folks against the government. It was even taken to the ridiculous extent of claiming that I was behind Boko Haram. They said I planned it to reduce the number of northern voters.

“A particular opposition politician, Nasir El-Rufai, who became the Governor of Kaduna State, went to the ridiculous extent of tweeting on August 9, 2014, that the then President of the Christian Association of Nigeria, Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor, and I were sponsors of the Boko Haram.

He added that Boko Haram members were not Muslims but Christians disguised as Muslims to spoil Islam’s good name.“Of course, it was laughable and extremely ridiculous. On the same day, at the Portcullis House in Parliament, London, El-Rufai repeated the same allegations at an event.”

Nigeria continues to experience increasing insecurity and violence through frequent attacks by terrorists, bandits and criminal herdsmen, despite repeated promises by President Buhari to crush insurgencies.

In recent years, the once calm Abuja-Kaduna highway has been described as a road to death due to the increasing level of daily kidnapping of travellers including security officials.

Rampaging criminal herdsmen continue to attack, rape and kill unarmed civilians, especially women, across the country. Last December 2020, about 344 school boys were declared missing after gunmen attacked a school in Kankara near Katsina, the President’s home state.

Although jihadists claimed responsibility, the boys were later freed with military intervention, arguably after a ransom was paid. Many ungoverned spaces and jihadist colonies continue to thrive.

Nobel Laureate Wole Soyinka described the country as a warzone. The Sultan of Sokoto, a spiritual leader of Muslims, feels that northern Nigeria is the worst place in the country to live.

This message came as the vocal catholic Bishop of Sokoto, Matthew Kukah, pointed to the horrible and inhuman conditions of a child born in the region. For many, life in Nigeria is fast becoming akin to a Hobbesian state of nature – nasty, brutish and short.