Hot SourceAttacks on the President by the former Kaduna State governor are unfortunate, reckons ABIODUN OLUWADARE
Nasir Ahmad El-Rufai has never been a stranger to controversy. His career in Nigerian public life has been defined not by quiet achievements, but by loud proclamations, divisive policies, and an almost theatrical embrace of confrontation. To some, he once represented the archetype of a reformer, armed with tough talk and a reputation for efficiency. But to many others, particularly those who lived through his reign in Abuja as Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) and in Kaduna as governor, he is remembered as a man who wielded power and left trails of discontent.
Today, as El-Rufai reinvents himself as a bitter critic of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and the Kaduna government, it is important to revisit his own legacy. Those who live in glass houses should be careful about how they throw stones.
El-Rufai’s rise to national prominence began under President Olusegun Obasanjo in the early 2000s, when he was appointed Director General of the Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE). The BPE was at the heart of Nigeria’s privatisation drive, intended to free up public assets for private investment. El-Rufai was positioned as a bold technocrat. In reality, his tenure was riddled with all kinds of allegations, including undervaluations. Critics accused him of presiding over sales of prized national assets, NITEL, ALSCON, and others, that went for far less than their true worth.
As Minister of the Federal Capital Territory from 2003 to 2007, El-Rufai earned a reputation that still divides opinion. On one hand, he boasted of restoring Abuja’s “masterplan” by demolishing illegal structures. On the other hand, he left thousands of families homeless in a wave of demolitions that critics described as heartless and selective.
Entire communities, especially the urban poor, were displaced, often without adequate compensation. Small businesses were flattened overnight. Residents spoke of the fear that El-Rufai’s bulldozers could show up without warning. While elites in plush districts remained largely untouched, ordinary Abuja residents paid the price for his vision of order.
To this day, many Nigerians recall the El-Rufai years in Abuja not as a time of reform, but as a reign of fear.
In 2015, El-Rufai rode into power as governor of Kaduna State under the banner of change. He promised to rebuild the state, attract investment, and restore peace to a region long plagued by ethnic and religious tension. He spoke with confidence, branding himself as a no-nonsense leader ready to make tough decisions.
The reality turned out very different. Kaduna under El-Rufai became synonymous with insecurity. Southern Kaduna, in particular, descended into cycles of communal killings, displacement, and despair. Entire communities were attacked by armed groups with little or no protection from the state.
By 2021, Kaduna had become one of Nigeria’s kidnapping capitals. The chilling abductions of Greenfield University students shocked the nation, as parents were forced to pay millions in ransom while the state stood helpless. In 2022, the Abuja–Kaduna train attack further exposed the vulnerability of the state: 10 passengers were killed, hundreds abducted, and security forces were overwhelmed.
Through it all, El-Rufai was quick with words but slow with solutions. He often made fiery statements, at one point saying he would “bring down bandits with firepower”, but the violence persisted. In fact, his rhetoric sometimes worsened tensions, especially in fragile communities that saw his government as indifferent to their suffering.
If insecurity was one half of El-Rufai’s Kaduna legacy, debt was the other. His administration borrowed heavily from the World Bank and other lenders, pushing Kaduna into one of Nigeria’s most indebted states. While he claimed the loans were for infrastructure and development, many projects remain incomplete, and the people saw little direct impact.
El-Rufai’s defenders still point to his attempts at school reforms, digital governance initiatives, and a few urban renewal projects in Kaduna city. But these are overshadowed by the bloodshed, displacement, and disillusionment that marked his years in power.
For the rural poor, he will be remembered as the governor who failed to protect them. For Abuja residents, he will be remembered as the minister who bulldozed their homes.
When the history of Nigeria’s Fourth Republic is finally written, Nasir Ahmad El-Rufai will stand out as a paradox: a man who built his career on the image of a reformer, only to become defined by bitterness when power slipped through his fingers.
After leaving Kaduna State in 2023, El-Rufai’s next ambition was clear. He expected a powerful ministerial slot under President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, a man he worked tirelessly to support during the 2023 elections. But when the Senate raised concerns over his nomination, citing security reports, his name was dropped. The rejection was a devastating blow to his pride.
Since then, El-Rufai has acted less like a statesman and more like a wounded lion, prowling for vengeance. El-Rufai’s transformation from Tinubu’s ally to bitter adversary has been dramatic. Having once crisscrossed the country to rally support for Tinubu’s presidential bid, he now predicts the President’s downfall. He has boasted that Tinubu will be sent “back to Lagos” in 2027, a thinly veiled reference to denying him a second term.
Behind the scenes, El-Rufai has reportedly thrown his weight behind an opposition coalition, stitching together political actors whose only unifying thread is hostility to the Tinubu presidency. His fingerprints are all over the schemes to weaken the ruling party from within and mount a formidable front in 2027. For a man who styled himself as a reformer, this current descent is telling.
El-Rufai’s bitterness reached a new low with his recent allegation that both the Kaduna State government and the Federal Government are “funding terrorism” by devoting public funds to ransom payments. Such claims are not only false but dangerous. They risk emboldening criminals and undermining public trust in security institutions.
What makes his allegation even more laughable is the hypocrisy behind it. During his own tenure as governor, El-Rufai once admitted to negotiating with bandits, even offering them incentives under the guise of peace. He also publicly declared that his government had paid Fulani herders in the past as a form of “compensation.” Today, he condemns the very practices he once embraced. This is desperation. It is worth reminding Nigerians of the contradictions El-Rufai conveniently ignores as he postures as a moral critic.
What Nigerians are witnessing today is not patriotism but vengeance. El-Rufai could not stomach his rejection by the Senate, nor forgive the Tinubu presidency for failing to force him through. He has now made it his mission to bring down both the government in Kaduna and the presidency in Abuja.
But Nigeria is bigger than the bitterness of one man. The challenges facing the nation, insecurity, economic recovery, food inflation, and unemployment, require collective solutions, not the destructive antics of a politician who refuses to accept his political mortality.
El-Rufai’s behaviour is a dangerous distraction. While the Tinubu administration grapples with tough reforms and the Kaduna government struggles to stabilise, he chooses to pour fuel on the fire. His actions amount to sabotage, not statesmanship.
Yes, President Tinubu’s government should be held accountable, as should Governor Uba Sani of Kaduna. But accountability must come from constructive engagement, not from reckless allegations and divisive schemes.
Nasir El-Rufai has every right to nurse his political wounds. He does not, however, have the right to destabilise the country out of spite.
Those who live in glass houses should mind how they throw stones. El-Rufai’s house is made entirely of glass. For the sake of Nigeria’s fragile democracy, he should swallow his pride, step back from his vicious campaign, and allow the country to move forward.
Prof Oluwadare writes from Nigerian Defence Academy, Kaduna
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