Governor Nasir El-Rufai denies that he leaked his memo to President Buhari

Monday, 27 March 2017

Kaduna state governor, Nasir El-Rufai has denied reports that he leaked the 30-page explosive memo he wrote to President Buhari last September. El-Rufai in the memo stated that President Buhari's government has failed to deliver on mundane matters of governance.

In an exclusive interview with DailyTrust, El-Rufai denied having an ulterior motive for sending the memo. He says the memo was mainly for the good of Nigeria and not about him nor his political ambition.

"As I said, I have written several memos to the president. This is the first one that has leaked. I can state categorically that I did not leak it. If I did I would say so. I wrote the memo, it’s my own, I could make it public if I chose to, but I did not. It was a private communication and I can’t understand the motives of those that leaked it. I don’t know who leaked it. But who knows? In these days of Wikileaks, even if it is in your computer it can be hacked and taken out. I don’t want to speculate on who leaked it or whatever, what I am surprised at is those that are attributing motives to the memo without even reading it. If you read that memo you would see that there’s no bad motive. There’s nowhere in the memo that I said the government has failed. It’s our government; if it fails then I have failed too. But there’s a lot going on. We are on the political terrain and I am the target of many people for reasons I may come to know later. But anyone that reads that memo will see that I did not intend it to be anything other than a private memo to the president. Secondly, my advice or analysis or opinions were based on what I believe to be the truth and what I think will advance the cause of the president. There’s is nothing in that memo that is advancing the interest of Nasir el-Rufai or even Kaduna State. It’s about Nigeria, the president’s success and our party. Why would anyone take that memo and say I have any ill motive? The reason I said in the memo that it would be misunderstood is because of experience. As I said, I have been with the president since 2010, and anytime I write anything and he discusses it with his inner circle, they always say I am very ambitious. I have always been accused of having presidential ambition since 2007. I have suffered from these accusations. The late President Umaru Musa Yar’adua exiled me because of it; former President Goodluck Jonathan tried to imprison me because everyone around him told him to keep me busy or I would contest against you in 2015”he said