Leave Buhari alone, El-Rufai tells visitors

Speaking to State House correspondents after the prayers, El-Rufai denied that there was a strain in his relationship with President Buhari following his controversial memo to the president that was leaked to the media.

But he conceded that there were some people in the presidential villa who do not like him just as there were others that do like him.

He said: “There is no strain in my ties with the President. The villa is a bigger place and within the villa, there are people that like me and there are those who don’t and it is normal.

“My relationship with the President has never been strained in anyway. I met with him last (Wednesday) night, I did not talk about things like that but my relationship with him is like that of father and son and it is privilege for me.

“I told him I will come today for the Jumat and I did.”

The Kaduna governor who said he was well received by the president, boasted that nobody can stop him from visiting the villa even though he added that it was necessary for people not to bother President Buhari with constant visits as that may distract him from his job.

El-Rufai added: “No one ever stopped me from coming to the villa and no one can stop me from coming to villa.”

“As a governor I come here, I have blank cheques, no one checks me at the gate but I believe what the President needs is for those that love him to keep away from him and allow him to rest.”

“The President needs quality time to rest because meeting too many people strains leadership.”

“I am a governor and I know that when I meet 10 people in a day I get really tired, it is not the paperwork, it is not really the memos, approving them or asking questions that strains a leader, it is the stream of visitors.”

“I do not want to contribute to the President’s problem by coming here every day. I am in touch with him, I know everything going on and I do not think I should add to his burden.”

“Most of the time I come to visit the President I do not come to the office, I go to see him at home. I think and I appeal to all of us that love the President to please allow him some space so that he will recover.”

“We need him and the country needs him. It is in our interest for the stability of the country. We should just let him be. It is absolutely necessary. Let us leave him to do his work in the privacy of his room or his office without strings of visitors. Visitors stress leaders.”

Also speaking, Senator Abu Ibrahim (Katsina South) revealed that prominent Katsina state indigenes led by Governor Aminu Masari met with Buhari on Wednesday night to reassure him of their loyalty and commitment to his administration.

He said the president was recovering well from his illness which caused him to undertake a nearly two months-long medical trip to the United Kingdom in January.