THE EL-RUFAI I HAVE KNOWN SINCE 1972.
I have known Nasir Ahmad El-Rufai since 1972. I was one year his senior. We were students of Barewa College, Zaria, one of the country's foremost institutions of learning and, for generations of Northern Nigerian boys, an institution that shaped not only our education but also our character, outlook and understanding of public service. My knowledge of El-Rufai did not begin with politics. It did not begin with his appointment to government. It did not begin with his tenure as Minister of the Federal Capital Territory or Governor of Kaduna State. I knew him before he became El-Rufai the public figure. I knew him as a young Barewa student, "the giant", as he was fondly referred. That distinction is important. Over the years, I have watched his remarkable transformation from a young student into a quantity surveyor, businessman, public administrator, reformer, minister, governor and one of the most controversial, but undoubtedly consequential, figures in contemporary Nigeri...