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Tag: Nasir el-Rufai

  • What irks Nasir el-Rufai?

    What irks Nasir el-Rufai?

    Reacting to this week’s launch of a new book on the life, times and legacy of the late President Muhammadu Buhari, former federal Minister and two-term governor of Kaduna State from 2015 to 2023, Nasir el-Rufai, appealed to Nigerians to let the former President “rest in peace”. Expectedly, a major book on a man like Buhari, who served first as military Head of State after the collapse of the Second Republic in December 1983 and was elected President for eight years after three unsuccessful bids for the position in 2003, 2007 and 2011, is bound to generate a lot of interest and controversies. This is moreso because Buhari was an enigma for the better part of his private and public life and, like most great leaders, was as intensely admired by his supporters as he was derided with equal passion by his traducers.

    Titled ‘From Soldier to Statesman: The Legacy of Muhammadu Buhari’, and written by Dr Charles Omole, Director-General of the Institute for Police and Security Policy Research, the book gives insider details on such issues as Buhari’s position on the choice of his successor in the run up to the 2023 presidential election, how the plot to impose former Senate President, Ahmed Lawan, as presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) failed or the late President’s management and leadership style.

    From media reports of the contents of the book, the author’s research involved detailed interviews with close family relations of Buhari such as his widow, Aisha Buhari, and some of those who worked closely with him as President such as former Director-General of the Department of State Security (DSS), Yusuf Bichi, former Inspectors-General of Police, Mohammed Adamu and Usman Alkali Baba, and former Chief Security Officer to Buhari, Abubakar Idris, among others. Surely, these are people who are in a position to speak authoritatively on the subject of the book, even though their account of events and interpretation of issues will naturally be coloured by their subjective value-preferences.

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    Although el-Rufai admits that he has not yet read the 600-page book, he cautioned against the “selective revelations” about a man who is no longer alive to give his own account, stressing that “Explaining the thoughts and motivations of a complex leader through selective anecdotes risks distorting, rather than preserving his legacy.” One would have thought that the stormy petrel should have at least read portions of the book before making magisterial pronouncements on the content, especially when he admitted that “it is possible that some media reports lack context.”

    Nevertheless, he felt confident enough on the basis of perfunctory media reportage to conclude that “many of the so-called revelations attributed to the late President appear one-sided and unfair”. el-Rufai is himself a published author. His reminiscences on his not-uneventful public life, titled ‘The Accidental Public Servant’, generated considerable media attention when published in 2013 and understandably attracted its fair share of controversies.

    Rather than calling on potential authors on the life of Buhari to perhaps exercise self-censorship to allow his soul to ‘rest in peace’, el-Rufai should avail the reading public of his own insider account of the public life and leadership style of a man he was privileged to observe and work with at close quarters. He undoubtedly has the ability to deliver a compelling read in this regard, which will, nevertheless, most certainly elicit its own controversies, disagreements, debates and rebuttals.

    But what actuated this latest intervention by el-Rufai in a statement with regard to the Buhari book launch? It certainly was no high-minded concern for the accuracy of the narratives about the late President or the need to preserve the sanctity of his legacy. No, what was at play was obviously his persisting bitterness and fury against the Tinubu administration, which apparently committed the unpardonable sin of acceding to the security report that declared el-Rufai unfit for ministerial appointment, leading to his exclusion from the current Federal Executive Council.

    Thus, apart from making baseless insinuations about the venue of the book launch, which was the State House Conference Centre, Abuja, el-Rufai asserted that “More troubling was the presence of long-time critics of Buhari, some of whom now hold high office, delivering glowing, but clearly faked tributes. These are individuals who once blamed his administration for nearly every challenge facing Nigeria, but who now appear eager to revise history—perhaps to deflect responsibility for present failures.”

    President Bola Tinubu was one of those who paid fulsome tribute to his predecessor at the book launch, but this can certainly not be credibly described as ‘faked tributes’. Throughout Buhari’s eight years as President, Tinubu never once criticised his administration in public, even when many leaders and groups in the Southwest were vehement in their denunciation of the latter’s politics, policies and leadership style. During the campaigns for the 2023 presidential election, President Tinubu severally stated that he would continue with Buhari’s legacies, eliciting furious reactions from caustic critics of the former President.

    And since he stepped into Buhari’s shoes as President in May 2023, Tinubu has pursued his government’s reforms with singleness of resolve while studiously refusing to dissipate energy on distracting criticisms of his predecessor’s administration. He has publicly stated that the government is a continuum, and he had naturally inherited both assets and liabilities from the previous government.

    What exactly irks el-Rufai about President Tinubu paying glowing tribute to Buhari at the book launch or the event taking place at the State House Conference Centre? After all, was Buhari not a former President elected on the platform of the ruling APC? Obviously, el-Rufai ‘s calculation, along with many other no less bitter members of Buhari’s defunct Congress of Progressive Change (CPC), one of the legacy parties that merged to form the APC, was that they would inherit the consistent bank of the late President’s 12 million northern votes following his demise.

    It did not matter that they never displayed the asceticism, frugality, modesty and commitment to the northern talakawa that earned Buhari his unprecedented grassroots support in the region despite his meagre material means. They thus are irked by the emotional and unprecedentedly grand and glorious state burial that Tinubu accorded his predecessor to the obvious approbation and approval of Buhari’s teeming support base in the North. This is also their grouse with the President’s continuing to honour Buhari’s memory with his presence and generous appreciation of the latter at the book launch.

    Unsurprisingly, el-Rufai declares that “It was also unsettling to see individuals celebrating Buhari in death who had neither his trust nor his respect in life. President Buhari was a principled man who did not easily forget personal or political disrespect, and he made his preferences clear to those around him. Unfortunately for the former Kaduna State governor and his fellow travellers, Tinubu is the sitting President, and he enjoys the support of members of his predecessor’s family and a significant number of leading members of his larger political family.

    Nasir’s wrath and frustration will most likely grow more incendiary over the next few weeks and months especially as the African Democratic Congress (ADC) continues in its failure to gain momentum, the ruling APC systematically utilizes its incumbency to strengthen its political grip nationwide, the President’s economic reforms increasingly yield more fruits with positive impacts on living standards and the former Kaduna State governor’s influence and acceptance in the state he presided over for eight years persists in its downward trajectory.

    We can therefore expect increasingly combustible radio and television interviews as well as explosive social media outbursts by the diminutive mobile time bomb dangling delicately on the fragile fringes of treason.

    Last week, we examined a write-up purportedly written by one Mohammed Bello Doka titled ‘Is Tinubu waging a war against the Muslim North?’ shared by el-Rufai on his Facebook page. By disseminating the inciting and deliberately provocative article, el-Rufai openly identified with the extremist views of the writer. The piece sought to instigate the Muslim North against the Tinubu administration by falsely claiming that Muslim public officials were being purged because of their religion and replaced by Northern Christians. It tried to whip up hostility against Middle Belt Christians by far Northern Muslims.

    Mohammed Doka reiterated a false allegation repeated severally on national television by el-Rufai that the Tinubu administration was paying huge sums of money in negotiations with bandits, even after this claim had been vehemently denied by the security agencies, and el-Rufai has provided no proof of his allegation. Again, the piece claimed that the Tinubu administration is indifferent to the insecurity in the North and that the cost of one road in Lagos exceeds the security votes of all northern states combined. Again, no attempt was made to provide empirical validation for this wild assertion.

    Yet, the security agencies have made no efforts to invite both Mohammed Doka and el-Rufai to offer proof of such utterly false and potentially destabilising information being brazenly peddled, which will encourage their persistence on this reckless path with dangerous implications for national harmony, stability and unity.

    Other dangerous claims in the post shared by el-Rufai is that insecurity is being deliberately encouraged in the North to discourage significant turnout of voters in the region in 2027; that Northern Muslims occupying public office in the Tinubu administration are complicit in ‘betraying’ the North and Islam; and that Northern Muslims in the administration are being marginalized and intimidated and Christians favoured to placate President Donald Trump.

    By sharing this article, which is obviously the product of a deranged extremist religious mind, el-Rufai confirms the notorious reputation he acquired as governor of Kaduna State for eight years- that of a closet unhinged Ayatollah difficult to distinguish in temperament and outlook from forest bandits and terrorists. But why does it appear that the country’s security agencies see nothing and hear nothing and are so inexplicably paralysed to curb the reckless hubris of the el-Rufais of this world?

  • Nasir El-Rufai’s hypocrisy and manufactured northern victimhood

    Nasir El-Rufai’s hypocrisy and manufactured northern victimhood

    Sir: Former Kaduna governor, Nasir El-Rufai is at it again weaponising religion, inflaming northern emotions, and inventing conspiracies just because he is no longer the one sitting close to the corridors of power.

    He shared Bello Doka’s article alleging that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu is “waging a quiet war against the Muslim North.” Coming from a man whose politics has been built on religious division, the propaganda is painfully predictable.

    But let us tell ourselves the truth: Politics of religion is dead. Competence has taken centre stage. The North will not be dragged backwards by one man’s bitterness. El-Rufai’s Problem Is Not the North His problem is that Tinubu is not using him.

    This sudden defence of “Muslim North” did not exist during Buhari’s government. Where was this righteous energy when Buhari filled every important office with northern Muslims?

    Chief of Army Staff – Muslim, North; Chief of Air Staff – Muslim, North; Defence Minister – Muslim, North.

    What happened?

    Banditry exploded. Kaduna burned. Zamfara collapsed. Katsina was bleeding. Farms became graveyards and schools were turned to kidnap markets.

    So let’s ask El-Rufai: If Muslim appointments automatically bring security, why did your own Kaduna become the epicentre of killings under a Muslim – Muslim government?

    The hypocrisy is loud. When Buhari filled Nigeria with northerners, El-Rufai said: “Appointments should be based on competence.”

    Today Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu balances appointments and suddenly competence no longer matters, only religion matters?

    Where did this sudden “love” for northern Muslims come from?

    El-Rufai, the same man who said Kaduna South complaints against Muslim – Muslim ticket were childish, is now crying religion?

    The hypocrisy is disgusting.

    The North must stop allowing political manipulators to play saviour

    The same El-Rufai who silenced clergy in Kaduna is now pretending to defend Islam? The same man who divided Kaduna by religion for eight years now wants to preach religious fairness?

    Nigeria knows him, Kaduna knows him, and history knows him.

    Whenever Nigeria begins to unite, El-Rufai appears with matches and kerosene.

    Religion is his political oxygen.

    Division is his comfort zone.

    Chaos is his political career.

    Tinubu owes you competence, not sectarian appointments. The entire idea that “Northern Muslims are being removed” collapses when placed beside reality: Middle Belt finally has representation; Northerners are still in key offices, and Christian Northerners are finally considered human beings.

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    Appointments are no longer a religious monopoly.

    Is that war? Or sanity?

    A northerner is not defined by religion

    El-Rufai’s logic is clear: If you are not a Muslim, even if you are from Northern Nigeria, you don’t belong.

    So Plateau, Benue, Southern Kaduna and Taraba should become foreign countries?

    This is exactly why Middle Belt shunned northern politics under Buhari. Tinubu is correcting decades of marginalisation inside the North itself.

    Tinubu is doing what El-Rufai never had the courage to do: Balancing the system, uniting the country, reducing ethnic monopoly and restraining religious dominance.

    And that is what truly frightens him.

    Nigerians are tired of religious merchants. We want roads. We want electricity. We want better security. We want working economy. We want competent appointees

    Not loud emotional blackmail from political middlemen searching for relevance.

    If Northern Muslims like Buratai, Sadiq, Monguno, Badaru and others could not secure Nigeria when they controlled everything, then the problem is not religion.

    The problem is that incompetent people were recycled because they were Northerners and Muslims, not because they could deliver.

    Tinubu is ending that rubbish. El-Rufai, the game is over.

    The era of religious extortion is gone. The North is wiser. Nigeria is tired and the Muslim North you are trying to provoke has suffered enough under the same system you defended for eight years.

    If you have a presidential candidate for 2027, bring him. Tell Nigerians his achievements. Tell us what he did. Tell us where he succeeded.

    But don’t hide behind Islam. We are not buying that trick again.

    Nigeria is moving forward. With or without the tears of expired politicians.

    •Sa’adiyyah Adebisi Hassan,Kaduna.

  • ‘El-Rufai not booed in Owerri’

    ‘El-Rufai not booed in Owerri’

    Former Kaduna State Governor Nasir El-Rufai was not booed at the weekend by protesters in Owerri, the Imo State capital, his Media Adviser Muyiwa Adekeye said last night.

    In a reaction to the story published on Sunday that El-Rufai and former Anambra State Governor Peter Obi were booed, Adekeye, in a statement, said: “Peter Obi did not attend the 2025 Odenigbo Lecture, having notified Malam Nasir El-Rufai early on Saturday morning of his intention to take some rest. Reporting the presence at an event of a man who was not there betrays the non-factual character of the story.

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    “Malam Nasir El-Rufai, who attended the event, drove into the Assumpta Cathedral without incident and was led to the venue of the 2025 Odenigbo Lecture. He was warmly received by the leadership of the Catholic Archdiocese of Owerri, which had invited him to the event. He was introduced to the lecturer of the day, Revd. Sister Prof. Evangeline Tochukwu Talia Oparaocha, and thereafter sat next to His Grace, Archbishop Lucius Ugochi, the Archbishop of the Catholic Archdiocese of Owerri.

    “After the citation of the guest lecturer was read, he was invited to join the procession that accompanied Archbishop Ugochi and Revd. Sister Prof. Evangeline Oparaocha, to the pavilion from which she delivered the Odenigbo Lecture.

    “Malam Nasir El-Rufai left the event as the lecture was still being delivered, after respectfully notifying the Archbishop of his departure. His exit from the Odenigbo grounds was also without incident.

    “As the facts set out above show, there was no booing episode against either Peter Obi or Malam Nasir El-Rufai at the event, at which venue Malam El-Rufai entered and left without any issue or drama. No audiovisual evidence of any booing episode has emerged because it did not happen.”

  • Nasir el-Rufai unravels quickly

    Nasir el-Rufai unravels quickly

    As is his custom, former Kaduna State governor Nasir el-Rufai has talked up a storm anytime something politically agitating catches his fancy. No topic is off-limits to him, and no personality or organisation beyond his sanctimonious rage. He has been widely quoted for his last Sunday’s television pontifications on the inanity of presidential aspirants making one-term promise, and on his number crunching that already predicted the winner of the 2027 presidential election.  On both points, he has been very assertive and magisterial. Firstly, he took on his comrades in the African Democratic Congress (ADC), the platform they wish to use to win the presidency, asking them to quit lying about their promise to do only one term in the event of winning the poll. And secondly he accused the federal government and Kaduna State of bribing and inevitably empowering bandits to halt their attacks on beleaguered northern states afflicted by banditry.

    No one is sure whether Mallam el-Rufai is not just stoking fires in order to sustain his visibility in the news or whether he really means what he says. Regarding the one-term controversy, he accused his comrades, former governors Rotimi Amaechi and Peter Obi, of dangerous populism. No president can change Nigeria’s fortune in four years he asserted. According to him: “On the question of people saying they will come out and do one term, I don’t think that anyone believes them and I don’t think that it’s right. You should not constitutionally give up what is yours and frankly, as someone who has been governor for eight years, Amaechi and Peter Obi have both been governors, they know the time it takes to make meaningful changes in governance; four years is not enough. I want to appeal to everyone to stop making this commitment of ‘I will do four years’ because nobody believes you.” But since the National Assembly expunged him from the ministerial list, he has not stopped excoriating the Bola Tinubu administration, insisting that it should perform miracles in rebooting the national economy and midwifing utopia.

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    What is more, his former political mentor vice president Atiku Abubakar, with whom he had wanted to migrate to the Social Democratic Party, and latterly to the ADC, has also promised four years in the presidency should he win. Even Mr Obi, famous for his farfetched ideas and impossible scenarios, has sworn that four years as president would be enough to remake Nigeria. All the politicians of note who surround Mallam el-Rufai, and who have defected into both the ADC and SDP, are convinced that the only way to win in 2027 is to promise a four-year term. It is not clear to what degree the former Kaduna governor can isolate himself or become the sole party philosopher capable of charting the only and infallible path to the presidency for the parties in question. However, gradually, he is beginning to be aware that he is becoming politically emasculated, and has thus started to whine about burying his own ambition in order to lend support to other aspirants to win the presidency. Indeed, he is so confident his adopted party – whether the ADC or SDP, he did not quite say – will win the 2027 election, probably on the second ballot, and President Tinubu would not even qualify for the runoff. It is no fanciful theory to come to that conclusion, he said sarcastically.

    In the same interview last Sunday, he indulged in another hyperbole on the subject of banditry, and especially on the non-kinetic approach to defeating the menace. As he put it: “What I will not do is to pay bandits, give them a monthly allowance, or send food to them in the name of non-kinetic. It’s nonsense; we’re empowering bandits…You don’t empower your enemy; you don’t give him money to go and buy sophisticated weapons. That is why the insecurity problem has not gone away and will not go away as long as this policy continues…My position has always been that the only repentant bandit is a dead one. Let’s kill them all. Let’s bomb them until they are reduced to nothing, and then the five per cent that still want to be rehabilitated can be rehabilitated. They can deceive, they can cover up, they can do propaganda, but those that live in Katsina, those that live in Zamfara, those that live in Kaduna,  they know what is happening…Let the governor or anyone come and deny. When the time comes, we will reveal everything.”

    Mallam el-Rufai appears disconcerted by truth. In the early years of his governorship, he embraced a different approach to banditry in his state, Kaduna. Yes, it is possible for politicians to change their mind, but they need to explain why, and admit they had made mistakes. Not Mallam el-Rufai, especially not when he lies about his change of mind. In the Sunday interview, he said his position had always been that the only repentant bandit was a dead one, and they needed to be killed, all of them. As governor, however – and there is video proof – he admitted seeking out and paying off militias killing indigenes of the state, with Southern Kaduna being the worst hit. It is reassuring he has changed his mind, but it is a little too late not to be seen as an opportunist. Perhaps one day, he will also change his mind about the December 2015 killing and burial in mass graves of nearly 350 Shiite members in Zaria mere months into his first term in office.

  • El-Rufai: Bandits appeased by govt

    El-Rufai: Bandits appeased by govt

    ‘Nobody believes one term promise’

    Former Kaduna State Governor Mallam Nasir El-Rufai yesterday accused the Federal Government of appeasing bandits with monetary rewards.

    He said the empowerment of bandits can only enhance insecurity instead of curbing the menace.

    El-Rufai, who spoke on Channels Television, also reflected on preparation for 2027 politics, saying that potential presidential aspirants making a one-term promise are unrealistic.

    In a breath, the former governor, who is a chieftain of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), said the Tinubu administration has failed.

    But, in another dimension, he said no president can solve the country’s problems within four years.

    El-Rufai said: “I want them to stop making this kind of commitment. Nobody believes them. Things change once they get in. Such a promise is even unfair.”

    Alleging that the Federal Government is aiding and abetting insecurity, El- Rufai said when bandits are appeased with money, they use it to buy sophisticated weapons to fight the country.

    He said: “What I will not do is to pay bandits, give them monthly allowance, or send food to them in the name of non-kinetic.

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     “It’s nonsense. We are empowering bandits. The government of Kaduna state is a national policy driven by the Office of National Security Adviser.

     “And Kaduna is part of it. Many states are objecting to that. But that is the policy

    now. Kiss the bandits. That’s the new policy. My position has always been the only repentant bandit is a dead one.

     “Let’s kill them all. Let’s wipe them. Let’s bomb them. Until they are reduced to nothing. And then the 5% that still want to be rehabilitated can be rehabilitated. You do not negotiate from position of weakness.”

    The former governor failed to give evidence of his claim when asked by his interviewer.

    He merely challenged the government to contradict his claim.

    El-Rufai said it was quite unfortunate for anyone to assume that he would have invited thugs to invade an event of his party, the Social Democratic Party (SDP).

    He said: “The police were there and they provided cover to those thugs. These thugs were government sponsored. We know them.

    “I had earlier submitted a petition to the Inspector General of Police on how the state government is using some police officers to abduct and kidnap opposition figures in Kaduna. And, I am waiting for the outcome of that.

    “But, this attempt by the police to issue a statement to allege that we as political party will invite thugs and invade our event is a sure sign that our policing system has collapsed.

    “Now, we have shadows of the police.

    “I will write a petition to the IG and the Police Service Commission.

    “When security agents are the ones providing cover for thugs, then we are on our way to total destruction of everything we stand for in this country.”

    El-Rufai alleged that Kaduna State government disrupted the activities of the SDP in the Northwestern state.

    He said: “No one can ask me to give any notice because it is not constitutionally required.

    “People should stop overreacting themselves just because they have a position today.

    “The governor of Kaduna State is behind the invasion.

    “I was a governor of Kaduna State for eight years and at no time did I disallow any political party from meeting.

    “I will submit my petitions to the Police Service Commission and the IG, if they care to take action.

    He said he doesn’t care of whatever people think of him.

    “I don’t care. The people that think I am a fundamentalist don’t know me, they have never met me, they have formed their opinion.”

    El-Rufai rejected the negative perception of his leadership when he was governor.

    He said: “They can think what they think. I don’t tolerate nonsense, governance is not a joke. “When you’re governing 10 million people as I did in Kaduna, you must not discriminate between A and B. Nobody can blackmail me that because he is a Christian, the law doesn’t apply to him.

    “There are people in Southern Kaduna that feel entitled to behave in a certain way, I dealt with them. Some of the closest people I worked with in government are from Southern Kaduna. They know that this is not true.”

  • El-Rufai’s politics starts to unravel

    El-Rufai’s politics starts to unravel

    Even for a politician as unprincipled and iconoclastic as former Kaduna State governor Nasir el-Rufai, recanting his damning characterisation of former vice president Atiku Abubakar as a corrupt and shifty leader can be self-immolating. He may have left the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) in a huff, and jumped into the turbulent Social Democratic Party (SDP) void without scruples, and may now be perching half-heartedly on the litigation-afflicted African Democratic Congress (ADC), but in the end he is no fool when it comes to his private interest and political survival. Though naturally defiant on nearly all things, he seems uncharacteristically reticent over his SDP misadventure, a blind alley he cannot apply his inventiveness to cure. That he is at present nervous about his place and role in the ADC is probably the result of the caution instilled in him by his many misadventures in recent months. He will, therefore, stay in the newly adopted old and overworn party with the hope that, firstly, the party will successfully navigate its legal labyrinth, and secondly that he and a few other regicidal Young Turks in the party can unhorse the old guard represented by Alhaji Atiku, and forge a new direction in which he will play a central role.

    Former Osun State governor Rauf Aregbesola has of course blithely gone off on a tangent, preaching to and soliciting the disgruntled in the Southwest, but in the foreseeable future, if circumstances permit, Mallam el-Rufai will supplant the Ogbeni and attempt to be the public and discourteous face of the ADC. He will not only remain as voluble as he is truculent, he will also posture as the battering ram of the party, but without the unflinching commitment he often gave his previous conquests. In recent weeks, rather than speak unequivocally about the ADC, he has often spoken about how the coalition would displace the ruling APC. He is deliberate. He picks his words carefully because he knows he is not yet an ADC member. What is even more striking is that he has been exceedingly careful about putting all his eggs in the Atiku basket. More and more, it appears, he is unable to live with the contradictions of helping to promote the ambition of the considerably flawed former vice president whom he had excoriated in the past in words that cause everyone to wince. Much worse, Mallam el-Rufai is also slowly beginning to realise that the country’s mood is decidedly against a northern candidate in the 2027 presidential poll. That realisation not only liberates him from his sense of duty to Alhaji Atiku, it also tantalises his ambition to be a potential running mate to a southern candidate. Later, but without great reflection, he will resolve that dilemma by settling for either Peter Obi who many people falsely think has a mythical six million plus ‘captive’ votes from the 2023 election or Rotimi Amaechi whose only acquisition so far is his inflated ego. The ADC’s legal and administrative ordeal is, however, not over. In fact, whatever analysis anyone does for now will be unreliable.

    Mallam el-Rufai has prematurely started to permute his chances in the 2027 polls. To carry out that abstraction, however, he must resolve two disturbing issues plaguing his ambition. One, he must determine just how far he should flaunt his messianic ego, with its accompanying megalomaniacal rhetoric of sentencing Nigeria to a choice between supporting him and voting for his amorphous party or risking the death and destruction that he prophesied must follow embracing the APC. Two Fridays ago, his son, Bashir, posted on X (Twitter) the need to make the same baleful choices his dad grimly predicted, insisting that some politicians must ‘die’ if the country is to become great. On August 1, he had posted: “Nigeria can become great again. Unfortunately or fortunately (depending on context) a few certain people have to kpai (die) to achieve this dream.” Mallam el-Rufai has no interest in reining in his son. He is himself a leading advocate of doom and destruction, of things getting much worse before they get better, of riding the four horses of the apocalypse. Last week, newspapers helped him inundate their front pages with his inciting rhetoric of disaster. He had described the APC as ‘dangerous to Nigeria’s future’, and that if the ruling party was re-elected, Nigerian unity would be destroyed. And for him personally, he bellowed, the next presidential election “is not just an election, it is also the fight of our lives.”

    Mallam el-Rufai is undoubtedly a bitter, divisive and acrimonious politician. He lives by incitement, that is, when he is not nurturing or validating ethnic exceptionalism. Ethically unmoored, he brings chaos and disorder to every group he joins, especially when he is denied vantage position. One prediction can, however, be safely ventured, that he will not be on any ticket in the next poll. No candidate will risk it. He is detested by most northern minority groups, deplored by nearly all Nigerian Christians, and sneered at by most political leaders for his irreverence and disloyalty. Not only will he not be on any ticket, any party where he is given prominence will be shunned. By now, Alhaji Atiku must have suspected that the former governor is double-dealing, and is ambiguous towards an Atiku candidature. After spending the early years of the President Muhammadu Buhari administration skewering the former vice president, the former governor may finally stand for something by staying true to his conclusions about Alhaji Atiku. The ADC is for now all about the Atiku ambition, but it is unclear the Young Turks in the party will stand for political antiquity. Expect a titanic battle.

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    In November 2016, Mallam el-Rufai had issued an eight-point rebuttal of Alhaji Atiku’s remark that the former Kaduna governor offered him Transcorp Hilton shares. He did not have anything to do with Transcorp, the former governor said, let alone offer anybody shares. Then he unleashed a flurry of invectives at the former vice president, accusing him of being unable to explain his shenanigans in “the Ericsson manoeuvre, in the Abuja water treatment plant contract, and his obsession with marabouts and their assurances of the political big prize. He might also consider a full reckoning for what he and his acolytes did with public funds in the PTDF imbroglio, rather than indulging the usual bold face of the Nigerian big-man.” As if that was not blistering enough, Mallam el-Rufai proceeded to ridicule the former vice president, saying: “Everyone is entitled to rehabilitation, but that often requires coming clean with the people. Can Alhaji Atiku explain the findings in the report of the United States Senate Permanent Sub-Committee on Investigations which detailed a pattern of wire transfers of more than USD 40m from offshore companies like Siemens into bank accounts controlled by him and one of his wives? The report detailing the US Senate findings is online, as one of four case histories of foreign corruption in the USA. Alhaji Atiku should tell a better tale of why he is avoiding America. Someone as obsessed by Nigeria’s presidency as he is, should clear up such matters conclusively.”

    There are many statements a politician can walk back, but these ones about Alhaji Atiku will be extremely difficult to pretend were never made. They are as damaging about the target as they are revelatory of the malevolence of the speaker. Despite being servile and groveling, Mallam el-Rufai knows full well that there is no way he can explain away his damning character portrait of the former vice president. It has indeed needed the former vice president’s defection to the ADC, not to talk of his past miscalculations and abortive presidential races, to cement his status as a political cadaver. But in embalming Alhaji Atiku, Mallam el-Rufai, the mortician, has painted himself as an unprincipled and dysfunctional man whose politics is finally unravelling.

  • APC knocks El-Rufai for rating Tinubu govt low

    APC knocks El-Rufai for rating Tinubu govt low

    Ex-governor a poster child of bad governance, failed leadership

    Former Kaduna State Governor Malam Nasir El-Rufai got knocks from the All Progressives Congress (APC) over his attacks on President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s Administration.

    The former governor had derided the ruling government as incompetent, clannish and undeserving of a second term.  He spoke at a political meeting in Sokoto over the weekend.

    But the APC likened the comments of the one-time Federal Capital Territory (FCT) minister as “another outburst of a waspish politician”, accusing him of “embodying the very failures he now claims to oppose”.

    Taking on El-Rufai in a statement in Abuja yesterday, APC National Publicity Secretary Felix Morka noted that the former governor has gone into a political tailspin since his failed bid get a ministerial job.

    Writing off El-Rufai and his

    Political soul mates in the African Democratic Congress (ADC), the APC described members of the coalition as “the most confused, clueless, rudderless and pitiful opposition politicians our country has ever known.

    “They bring nothing to the political table except their oversized ego, wild entitlement mentality, obscene desperation and predatory presidential ambitions.

    “Beyond baseless headline attacks against the present administration and the All Progressives Congress (APC), El-Rufai and cohorts have not presented and, quite frankly, cannot present policy prescriptions with potential for more effectiveness than those already being implemented by the Tinubu administration, with strong indicators of success.”

    The statement reads further: “All the three major contestants in the 2023 presidential election campaigned to remove fuel subsidy and harmonise multiple foreign exchange regimes in recognition of the urgency and seriousness of the country’s economic challenges.

    Upon his election and inauguration, President Tinubu swiftly implemented policy reforms as he promised. After their crushing defeat at the polls, Atiku and Obi, seemingly, recanted their policy reform positions in order to justify sitting …at the table of hypocrisy and hurling invectives at President Tinubu and APC for implementing reform policies they also promised Nigerians.

    “If El-Rufai and his cohorts detest the administration’s policy reforms as much as they claim, why have they not presented policy proposals to restore fuel subsidy as it was and return the country to the ruinous era of fixing naira’s value and operating multiple foreign exchange regimes that fed the greedy and insatiable appetite of the likes of El-Eufai, Atiku, Obi and Rotimi Amaechi for decades?

    “And while at it, to tell Nigerians how they would finance the resultant massive deficit that would ground the economy to a devastating crumble.”

    Dismissing El-Rufai’s claims as mischievous and hollow, the APC noted: “With a steady rebound in our economy and other indicators of verifiable progress in all sectors, including the ongoing revolution in agriculture; high performing stock exchange market; improved power generation and transmission; increased oil production at nearly 1.8mbpd; consistent trade surpluses; unprecedented infrastructural  development – with 420 roads and bridges underway; strategic retooling of our military capabilities with 49 advanced aircrafts; unprecedented NELFUND for students, with fast declining inflation and rising consumer confidence, and more, El-Rufai’s verdict of “poor governance and failed leadership” falls flat as no more than the rants of an inconsolable sulker.

    “The rejection of El-Rufai as a minister cannot justify his allegation of clannishness against the administration; a senseless claim like that can only come from someone who haughtily equates his selfish interest with the interest of an entire ethnic nationality.

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    “President Tinubu is easily one of the most detribalized and patriotic Nigerians alive. No tribe, ethnic or religious group has been sidelined like El-Rufai wants Nigerians to believe.

    “For a former governor who left a sordid legacy of obnoxious marginalisation of ethnic and religious minorities in Southern Kaduna; who sponsored sectarian violence and weaponised demolitions against innocent citizens; and hung a debt profile of N284 billion on tax payers, according to the Debt Management Office (DMO), El-Rufai is the poster child of bad governance and failed leadership.”

    The ruling party accused El-Rufai and his cohorts of fanning ambers of disunity and national cohesion, saying: “It is now clear to all Nigerians that El-Rufai and his cohorts in ADC are on a mission to upend the presidential rotational principle designed to promote national unity and cohesion in the country through the imposition of Atiku as presidential candidate of ADC in the middle of a southern presidency rotation. 

    “It was Atiku’s selfish and obdurate refusal to respect the rotation principle during the 2023 Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) presidential primary election that directly resulted in PDP’s virtual cremation.

    “El-Rufai and Atiku want to do to Nigeria what Atiku did to PDP. El-Rufai, Atiku and hijacked ADC constitute a clear and present threat to the unity, peace and progress of Nigeria.”

    The APC maintained that the country is witnessing an era of visionary and transformational leadership under President Bola Tinubu.

    It said: “The administration’s Renewed Hope Agenda has fundamentally repositioned our nation for steady growth and progress.

    “We are confident that Nigerians will sustain their support for our great Party and renew President Tinubu’s mandate come 2027, to consolidate on what now looks to be the most outstanding first term record of achievement of any President in our nation’s history.”

  • El-Rufai: My error

    El-Rufai: My error

    In this space last week, I reported that Justice Hauwa’u Buhari of the Federal High Court ordered former Kaduna State Governor Nasir El-Rufai to pay nine Adara community elders led by Awemi Maisamari N900 million for violation of their rights. I have since learnt that the court never made such an order. The error was inadvertent.

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  • Uba Sani versus Nasir El-Rufai

    Uba Sani versus Nasir El-Rufai

    By Dahiru Hassan Kera

    Kaduna State is currently witnessing a political storm of epic proportions. At the centre of it lies a dramatic conflict between Governor Uba Sani and his political benefactor-turned-adversary, former governor Nasir Ahmad El-Rufai. What began as hushed whispers of friction has now exploded into a full-blown confrontation, with corruption allegations, court injunctions, legislative indictments, and mounting public scrutiny threatening to redefine the legacies of both men.

    This rift—perhaps the most consequential in Kaduna’s political history since the days of Balarabe Musa—has brought the integrity of political mentorship, the sanctity of public service, and the limits of godfatherism into sharp focus. Sani’s transmogrification from El-Rufai’s political ally to bitter adversary is for Kaduna, and maybe Nigeria, an unfolding model of succession.

    To put things in clear perspective, it is pertinent to walk back the road to this ever-festering political divorce. Sani’s ascension to the governorship in 2023 came largely through El-Rufai’s political machinery. He was seen as a loyalist, a continuity candidate who would carry on the legacies of his predecessor. But less than a year into his administration, cracks began to show.

    Governor Sani, confronted with a staggering N587 billion inherited debt, publicly admitted that the financial condition of the state was “terrible,” a revelation that shook the foundations of El-Rufai’s so-called fiscal frugality. His claim opened the floodgates, prompting the Kaduna State House of Assembly to initiate a probe into the financial dealings of the previous administration.

    The Assembly’s findings were damning. In April 2024, the ad-hoc committee released a comprehensive report recommending the prosecution of El-Rufai and several key members of his cabinet for alleged abuse of office, contract fraud, money laundering, and diversion of public funds. The report exposed alleged opaque loan agreements, inflated contracts, and what it termed “deliberate plundering” of public resources. According to the committee, over N423 billion in loans taken during El-Rufai’s tenure could not be adequately accounted for.

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    Faced with the threat of arrest and prosecution, El-Rufai sought legal refuge. In May 2024, he secured a controversial court injunction barring the Kaduna State government from arresting or prosecuting him over the allegations. The irony is indeed very rich. I mean, this is the same El-Rufai who, as governor, routinely flouted court orders and brushed aside judicial verdicts that didn’t serve his interests.

    Trust Nigerians. They have made sure El-Rufai’s sudden reliance on the judiciary he once undermined has not gone unnoticed. Many Nigerians who have a platform have made sure to let him know they view his recent romance with the courts as a desperate attempt to escape justice.

    For Governor Sani, this legal manoeuvring is, perhaps, not just a hurdle—it’s a defining challenge. It tests his resolve, his independence, and his commitment to transparency. We all know that for too long, Nigerian leaders have cloaked themselves in immunity or relied on powerful networks to evade accountability. Breaking that tradition will require more than rhetoric; it demands sustained political courage. The question is: Is Sani courageous enough for the coming storm? Recent developments would suggest so.

    Now, the feud would appear to have escalated further. In May 2025, El-Rufai was noticeably absent at a crucial stakeholders’ meeting convened by the APC leadership in Kaduna. His camp, it appears, is gradually positioning him as a victim of political betrayal—a script perfected in the Nigerian political theatre. As it turned out, that event was to be El-Rufai’s expected final appearance as a member of the APC.

    In what many interpreted as a veiled attack, El-Rufai’s media allies began floating the narrative that the former governor is being persecuted for refusing to support certain “elements” in the Tinubu-led presidency. Some even suggested that Sani is being used as a pawn in a broader national political game. But the governor’s camp has denied any external influence, insisting that the probe is purely about state accountability.

    Meanwhile, loyalists of El-Rufai, including former commissioners and media aides, have launched an aggressive social media campaign aimed at discrediting the Assembly’s findings and the governor’s efforts. They argue that the probe is a witch-hunt and that the figures quoted are exaggerated. One of El-Rufai’s former aides went as far as calling the committee’s work “a script written in the Villa.”

    But Kaduna residents are increasingly unmoved by these counter-narratives. Civil society organisations like the Kaduna Transparency Network have thrown their weight behind the probe, urging Governor Sani not to bow to pressure.

    The unravelling relationship between Sani and El-Rufai mirrors similar political conflicts seen in other states—Lagos and Rivers states, the latter leading to the suspension of Governor Siminalayi Fubara. It’s the classic clash between a sitting governor eager to assert his independence and a godfather reluctant to loosen his grip on power, or so it seems. But unlike some of those states, the Kaduna saga is unique in its legal and financial implications.

    If Governor Sani succeeds in pushing forward with a full-blown investigation and possible prosecution, it could mark a turning point in Nigerian politics. It could signal the decline of unchecked godfatherism and the rise of accountable governance. On the flip side, if he falters, it may reinforce the dangerous precedent that political loyalty supersedes legal responsibility.

    Governor Sani’s administration is still in its early days, yet the stakes are already sky-high. The legal battles, the media war, and the potential political backlash all converge to make this a moment of reckoning. Should Uba Sani soldier on? But for who – his political future or  the good of Kaduna State?

    On the bright side, this confrontation presents an excellent opportunity for Sani. By standing firm, Sani could reshape the political landscape of Kaduna State and even redefine leadership in Northern Nigeria. He could inspire a generation of politicians to break free from the yoke of clingy benefactor politics and prioritise the public good over personal allegiance.

    More importantly, he can set a precedent for accountability that transcends party lines. El-Rufai was no ordinary governor. He was hailed by some as a reformer, a policy wonk, and a bold technocrat. But reform must not become a shield for impunity. If misdeeds occurred under his watch, they must be addressed.

    El-Rufai’s silence—or calculated restraint—since the report’s release has only deepened suspicions. His decision to stay out of the public spotlight may be tactical, but it also speaks volumes.

    Sani, on the other hand, has grown bolder. From his media appearances to policy shifts aimed at reducing government waste, the governor seems intent on charting a distinct course. His challenge now is to maintain momentum without falling into the trap of political vendetta.

    Kaduna stands at a crossroads. And the coming months will determine whether this drama becomes another forgotten chapter or a turning point in the state’s, and perhaps the country’s, political evolution.

    In this unfolding drama, everyone must play their roles. The courts must remain resolute and uncompromising, and the Kaduna people must remain vigilant. They must resist the pull of sentimentality or propaganda. They must stand with what is right and just, even if it means standing against the powerful. For in doing so, they do not just protect Kaduna; they safeguard the democratic promise of Nigeria.

    •Kera writes from Abuja

  • El-Rufai: The evil men do…

    El-Rufai: The evil men do…

    As the governor of Kaduna State between 2015 and 2023, the petite Nasir El-Rufai was larger than life. He rode roughshod over those he governed. He drove some of his political opponents out of the state; others were arrested and detained arbitrarily, while the properties of those who dared to challenge him were demolished for allegedly violating town planning laws. But everything that has a beginning also has an end. His all-conquering power ended when his tenure ended in 2023.

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    Now a privale citizen, El-Rufai is struggling to remain politically relevant after he was chalked off the ministerial list following security report. He is still livid about the matter. Now, a court has cut him down to size for acting as an overlord while in office. Justice Hauwa’u Buhari of the Federal High Court, Kaduna, on May 27 held that El-Rufai in 2019 violated the rights of nine Adara community elders led by Awemi Maisamari, and ordered him to pay them N900 million.

    It is worthy of note that he was found culpable in his personal and not official capacity. The case was filed after he left office when he no longer enjoyed immunity. El-Rufai has the right of appeal. But before he files his appeal, the  point has been made that he acted arbitrarily and should pay for his action. As Shakespeare said: “the evil that men do, lives after them…”