The Kaduna State Governor, Malam Nasir el-Rufai, and the representative of Bayelsa East Senatorial District, Senator Ben Murray-Bruce, have in the last 24 hours engaged in a fight over the commissioning of more coaches for the Abuja-Kaduna rail route by President Muhammadu Buhari earlier in the week.
In the process of bickering, the two men have drawn both present and former presidents of Nigeria into the fray.
The fight started with a tweet by Murray-Bruce calling on Buhari to acknowledge former President, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan, for “entirely” making the train ride the incumbent enjoyed to Kaduna from Abuja for the commissioning possible.
He tweeted: “I hope President @MBuhari remembers to say thank you to former President @GEJonathan for the train ride he enjoyed in Kaduna. Some of us haven’t forgotten that that achievement was ENTIRELY the handiwork of the Jonathan government. Nigeria should give honour to whom honour is due.”
Reacting to the tweet, also on his Twitter handle, el-Rufai faulted the position of the senator.
He said instead of giving credit to Jonathan, he should rather be blamed for stalling the project for almost two years alongside his former boss and President, late Umaru Yar’Adua.
He said the credit should go to the administration of former President Olusegun Obasanjo, of which Jonathan was not part of, for initiating the project.
He tweeted: “Wrong Distinguished Senator! The Obasanjo administration which Jonathan was not part of, designed, raised the financing and started the EPC of the Lagos-Kano dual track-standard gauge rail system, and the Abuja Light Rail. Yar’Adua-Jonathan stalled both projects for two years!”
But in a reply to el-Rufai, Murray-Bruce, said the governor’s response was based on his dislike for Yar’adua.
He tweeted: “Your dislike of the late Yar’adua may have clouded your judgment. I made no mention of the ‘Abuja light railway’. My tweet referred to the Abuja-Kaduna railway which IS a product of the Jonathan administration. I am happy to publicly debate this with you.”