By Tony Orilade/ Abuja

He is not new to controversy. In fact, the former minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Malam Nasir el-Rufai is a master of the game when it comes to the issue of controversy. Although he had served as director-general of the Bureau of Public Enterprises from 1999, he came to the limelight when he was appointed minister of the FCT in 2003. He stirred the hornets’ nest when he alleged that then Senate deputy president, Ibrahim Mantu and Senator Jonathan Zwingina demanded N54 million to facilitate his confirmation as minister. Although many Nigerians were ready to swear that el-Rufai was right, substantiating his claim became a herculean task. Thereafter, the Kaduna State-born Quantity Surveyor has never been shy of a fight. In fact, those who know him say he performs excellently well in an atmosphere of crisis.

Shortly afterwards, el-Rufai was to face the Senate again when he was accused of paying a whopping N2 million salary to a serving femaleYouth Corps member he appointed as a consultant to the FCT. At a point during the Senator Mamman Ali-led Committee on Public Accounts, the pint-sized Zaria boy explained to journalists that it was needless replying the legislators since silence remained the best answer for a fool. It took the intervention of the former president, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, for the legislators to let go the issue.

El-Rufai’s most trying moment, however, was when, as minister of the Federal Capital Territory he embarked on demolition of structures he deemed illegal in Abuja, which earned him the sobriquets: Mr. Demolition and Minister of Sorrow. Before his appointment, President Olusegun Obasanjo was reported as saying he needed an uncompromising individual to fix Abuja, and he found that man in el-Rufai. “We will inflict pains on the rich and powerful in our efforts to make Abuja work,” el-Rufai insisted, adding that it was only Obasanjo, not the House of Representatives, that could stop the demolition exercise.

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