El-Rufai suffering persecution complex, his fear unfounded – Omokri 

A former presidential aide, Reno Omokri, has said former Governor of Kaduna state, Malam Nasir el-Rufai’s claim that President Bola Tinubu’s administration plans to arrest and prosecute him is unfounded.

Omokri said el-Rufai’s alarm was his habitual strategy of manipulating the public whenever he lost out in a power game.

Omokri, in a statement, said el-Rufai was suffering from a persecution complex, noting that the former governor had accused past governments of targeting him.

“The same Nasir el-Rufai, who falsely accused President Goodluck Jonathan of planning to kill him is the same person now accusing President Bola Tinubu of wanting to arrest him. Indeed, the devil has no new tricks other than recycling the same old tired lies,” he said. 

Omokri contended that el-Rufai’s allegation was a veiled attempt to ward off ongoing investigations of his administration by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), adding that the former governor habitually manipulated public opinion to shield his shortcomings.

He accused the former governor of politicising a legitimate criminal investigation.

“If the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission investigates and finds him wanting for financial crimes, that is not a political action. That is purely a law enforcement incident, and the only defence against that would not be that ‘President Tinubu is after me.’ It would be that you are innocent,” he said.

Digging into el-Rufai’s past, Omokri said the former governor would go to any length, including spreading false propaganda, to achieve his purpose.

He said, “On page 272 of ‘Power, Politics and Death: A Front-row Account of Nigeria Under the Late President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua’, the former THISDAY editor and Yar’Adua’s spokesman, Mr Olusegun Adeniyi, wrote, ‘On the way, Balat, himself a former minister in Obasanjo’s government, asked, ‘Segun, this cabal thing, were you a member?’ Before I could respond, former Federal Capital Territory minister, Mallam Nasir el-Rufai, who played a prominent role in the campaign that eventually brought Jonathan to power, interjected: “There was no cabal, we created the myth in the media to neutralise Turai.”