BY EMMANUEL AZIKEN
ABUJA— Erstwhile Director-General of Bureau of Public Enterprises, BPE, Malam Nasir el-Rufai, has decried the report of the Senate ad-hoc Committee on Privatisation  concerning him, saying he was not shocked, given his past experience with the Senate.

Debunking the report’s claim that he by-passed the authority of the National Council of Privatisation, NCP, el-Rufai, in a statement, yesterday, challenged the Senate to cite one instance where he by-passed the laid down channels or flouted procedures while he held sway at the bureau.

The statement issued on his behalf by his media adviser, Mr. Muyiwa Adekeye, said: “He categorically states that as BPE DG, approvals for privatisation issues were sought and received from the National Council on Privatisation, NCP, then chaired by Vice-President Atiku Abubakar.

That was the requirement of the law, and BPE’s compliance with it during his leadership was total. The Senate Committee is invited to make public any instance  – even just one – where, he breached the sales approval process.

“When Malam el-Rufai appeared before the Senate’s ad-hoc committee on privatisation on August 11,  2011, he had no illusions about the results such committees produce, given his previous experience. Prior to el- Rufai’s presentation, Ahmed Lawan, chair of the committee, said the public hearing was not a witch-hunt, and el-Rufai retorted that it was up to the committee to demonstrate that.”

“Anybody who followed that day’s proceedings would recall that the questions asked after el- Rufai’s presentation were mainly seeking his advice on how to improve the privatisation process.”

When Senator Lawan assumed that he had found a smoking gun in the matter of monies retained by BPE to pay transaction costs, el-Rufai candidly explained the mechanisms and processes of the bidding process that necessitated this operational move that was approved by NCP on June 24,  2002.”

“The strange recommendation that he be reprimanded for an offence he did not commit follows a tradition of shoddy investigation that does no credit to the Senate. Legislation and oversight are serious matters, and it is expected that people charged with such functions would truly apply themselves, avail themselves of cognate expertise and exercise due care so that the reports of such proceedings would be suffused with the kind of integrity that begets respect.”

“When Mallam El-Rufai gets a complete copy of the widely-quoted report, he will consider whether additional clarifications and other options, including and not limited to seeking judicial review of every sentence that impugns his public service record and reputation, are required.”