Did El-Rufai Wish Muhammadu Buhari Dead?

Kaduna State Senator, Shehu Sani on February 26, said that some people wanted President Muhammadu Buhari dead so they could serve as Vice President to then acting president, Yemi Osinbajo.

Sani made the comment while Buhari was on a prolonged medical vacation in London.

Meanwhile, Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) boss, Hadiza Bala Usman has been forced to deny rumours that she gave $25,000 each to some All Progressives Congress (APC) chieftains to pick Kaduna Governor, Nasir El-Rufai as vice-president to Osinbajo in case of Buhari’s death.

“Those peddling rumours of Buhari’s death are enemies who by hook or crook want to be Vice President to Osinbajo but unfortunately they woefully failed because Buhari is coming back safely and healthy,” Sani said.

“Unfortunately for them, neither the Vice President, Professor Yemi Osinbajo, nor Buhari trusts them. Osinbajo is a trusted ally to his boss and he dislikes anything that would make him compromise the trust he enjoys,” he added.

Shehu Sani has repeatedly accused El-Rufai of wanting Buhari’s job and urged him to instead focus on governing Kaduna.

“El-Rufai should do his job and stop putting his eyes on the presidency,” Sani said during an interview with The Interview Magazine in 2016.

“It would be counter-productive for the governor to start thinking of evicting Buhari in 2019 to be the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria,” he added.

He also made a similar accusation while condemning El-Rufai over a controversial leaked memo in which he criticized Buhari.

“The governor always recommends that our party should punish me for criticizing him. Now that he has fired a cruise missile at the President through a deliberately leaked memo, he should also be treated the same way,” Sani said on March 18.

Sani also said that, by leaking the memo, El-Rufai is trying “to rouse popular sympathy and create the image of ‘a competent alternative’ to ‘Baba.'”

“The memo suggests he is trying to do what he recently accused me of. He said that I am in the habit of criticizing him because I want to become Kaduna State Governor,” the senator added.

Sani also advised Buhari to tread with caution, saying “he who keeps a scorpion in his pocket must always watch his groin and he who inherits a cobra should know that it’s not a pet.”

Buhari left the country on January 19 for what was to be a 10-day leave but, on February 5, extended the trip indefinitely due to advice from his doctors.

He eventually returned to Nigeria on Friday, March 10, after spending 49 days in London.