Contrary to his scathing criticisms, former Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Mallam Nasir El-Rufai gave President Goodluck Jonathan a clean bill of health on financial accountability and transparency on the international front,a fresh report by Wikileaks has revealed.
\nIn a United States diplomatic cable just made public by the whistle blowing organization, El-Rufai described President Jonathan as \u201c clean and honest\u201d.
\nDetails of the confidential cable with reference 07ABUJA77, show that the controversial politician gave the endorsement during an interactive session with the erstwhile American Ambassador to Nigeria, Mr John Campbell, in the build-up to the 2007 general elections.
\nExplaining the rationale behind the emergence of late President Umaru Yar Adua and Goodluck Jonathan as the Peoples Democratic Party(PDP) candidates, El-Rufai informed the ambassador that \u201cthey were the only two Governors that could have cleared the EFCC hurdles\u201d
\nThe cable further reported El-Rufai as stating that in the contest for the Vice Presidency, \u201cGovernor Jonathan was the only candidate that met Obasanjo\u2019s guidelines- honesty and Ijaw\u201d<\/p>\n
Mallam Nasir El-Rufai
\nThe Ambassador\u2019s report disclosed that \u201cthe Minister said the PDP leadership pushed for Rivers Governor Peter Odili as the Vice Presidential candidate but that Odili along with Governors Markafi (Kaduna) and Mu\u2019azu (Bauchi), face \u2018integrity issues\u2019 with the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC)\u201d.<\/p>\n
These disclosures are in sharp contrast to the virulent and disparaging attacks by former minister on President Jonathan whom he is accusing of corruption, profligacy and mismanagement of the nation\u2019s resources.
\nIn one of his recent tirades against the President, El-Rufai alleged that he used \u201ccrony capitalist and state funds \u2013 variously estimated at between 1 and 2 billion dollars to facilitate his election\u201d
\nHe also accused Jonathan of \u201cpractically sharing out the nation\u2019s savings account to state governors, Party apparatchiks and traditional rulers to buy their support for his presidential bid\u201d
\nAccording to the diplomatic cable, El-Rufai denied nursing any presidential ambition but stated that his rumoured interest was only being advanced by his admirers including Obasanjo.
\n\u201cWhen President Obasanjo called me to ask about my intention, I told him that I would do it, but that I had not campaigned for the position\u201d the report quoted El-Rufai. It added that \u201cAccording to El-Rufai, the president agreed with him and told him that there were \u2018other bridges\u2019 to cross before EL-Rufai was ready \u201c
\nIn the report, The former Minister claimed to have known late President Yar Adua for about 25 years and described him as an \u201codd fellow\u201d.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Contrary to his scathing criticisms, former Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Mallam Nasir El-Rufai gave President Goodluck Jonathan a clean bill of health on financial accountability and transparency…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":21378,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-21380","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-exclusive"],"yoast_head":"\n