El-Rufai Is Stupid, He Says Whatever He Likes – Presidency

Following recent allegation by former FCT
Minister, Malam Nasir El-Rufai that
President Jonathan knows oil thieves, the
Presidency has taken a swipe at the interim
Deputy National Secretary of the All
Progressives Congress (APC), calling him a liar. The Presidency said it was stupid of El-
Rufai to condemn the President’s call on
the American and British governments to
help Nigeria stop oil theft, adding that “what
government had done was to check oil
thieves at our end and if they escape cautionary measures in the country and if
the US and Britain don’t buy from them,
they will stop.” The Presidency also described the new
alliance of the opposition political parties
under the aegis of the APC as “mega
nonsense, which cannot go anywhere”. Reacting on behalf of President Jonathan
on Liberty Radio, Kaduna Guest of the Week
programme yesterday, the Special Assistant
to the President on Public Affairs, Dr. Doyin
Okupe said, “the President did not just
wake up one day and say Britain and America should help us. It was just one of
the various internal steps that were taken.
There were funds given to the Navy to
acquire boats, and they are already
producing results. It is just like smuggling,
you make a law, you empower the Customs to impound goods at the point of entry, and
also ban sale of such products in the stores. “So, what government has done is it to stop
this oil theft at our end and if they escape
checks and balances that we put in place, if
those people don’t buy from them, then,
they will stop. So, why is El-Rufai pretending
to be stupid? “I just told you, it is right that you guys gave
a platform to El-Rufai, he is a free man, he
is a citizen of Nigeria, but he is not a man
that is worthy of any serious comment. He
just says whatever he likes. “It is a pity that you have chosen me to
respond to Malam El-Rufai’s statements. El-
Rufai is a name that is disgraceful in my
mouth, but I will try to respond. El-Rufai is a
liar, who went to the extent of writing a
book that is full of lies, similes, things that are untrue, half truth, he will now quote
three pages of discussions with people
when he did not record them, and these are
things that happened six to seven years
ago, so, when I say he is a liar, I mean it,”
Okupe stressed. On the emergence of the new opposition
party, the Presidential Spokesman said All
Progressive Congress (APC) was not a mega
party, but a ‘mega nonsense’, which would
collapse very soon. Okupe said, “Members of APC are united
and have been brought together not
because they want to help Nigeria in any
form. They have come together because
they just want power for personal
aggrandizement.”