By Our Reporter
The governor of Kaduna State, Malam Nasir El-Elrufai, did the unusual at the time the APC Leader, Ashiwaju Bola Tinubu, visited the Government House by giving the APC leader his branded official seat. In the course of the visit, the governor first offered his official seat to Tinubu and then subsequently sat on a more modest seat that was not branded.
It would be noted that this kind of honour had never been done to Tinubu in all his official and private visits across the country.
Tinubu visited Kaduna State to condole with the governor, government and people of Kaduna State over the spate of violent attacks on the state by terrorists. The latest of such was the attack on the Abuja-Kaduna bound train a few days ago.
In the course of the visit, the APC Leader said the attack on the train and the passengers on it was an attack on all the people of the country and all well-meaning people should come together to bring an end to it.
Tinubu also made a donation of N50 million to the people who were attacked on the train.
This was not the first time Tinubu would visit Kaduna State under the El-Rufai-led administration as he had come in the past to unveil some of the projects executed by the El-Rufai government.
Observers have noted that it is not unlike Governor El-Rufai to offer his seat as a mark of respect to the leader of his party as he had demonstrated such humility at public events in the past.
One of such occasions was at an event which held at the Merit House, Maitama, Abuja, in March 2013. The event was an evening ceremony held to round-off a one-week creative writing workshop (an empowerment programme) in memory of El-Rufai’s late daughter, Yasmin El-Rufai. One of the guests arrived at a stage in the course of the event and El-Rufai on that occasion offered his seat to the guest on the high table, while he took and sat on a more modest plastic chair.
All efforts made thereafter by the organizers of the event, EXODUSFORART, and which was fully sponsored by Malam Nasir and Hajia Hadiza El-Rufai, to make the former Minister of the FCT accept another more befitting seat was turned down by him. Instead, he sat humbly in the modest chair throughout the duration of the event.
It is therefore noted by observers that the governor made the gesture of offering his seat to Tinubu as a mark of his deep respect for the party leader who marked his 70th birthday anniversary recently.
