The immediate past governor of Kaduna State, Nasir El-Rufai, has criticized his successor, Governor Uba Sani, for defending the administration of President Bola Tinubu. El-Rufai’s remarks come in response to statements made by Governor Sani during an interview on TVC, where he slammed politicians plotting to form a coalition against Tinubu in the 2027 presidential election.
In the interview, Governor Sani had expressed strong support for the current president, dismissing the idea of a coalition aimed at ousting Tinubu. “Most of these politicians that came out and say they are coming as coalition, they are politicians that were in government only less than two years ago. What did they do when they were in government? They were only fighting for power, not because they could do anything better,” Sani stated. He further praised Tinubu, claiming, “No president in the history of Nigeria has really practiced democracy like President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.”
El-Rufai, however, did not take kindly to Sani’s remarks. On Tuesday, the former governor took to social media platform X, calling Sani’s comments embarrassing and accusing him of sycophantic behavior. “Every day I see this governor embarrassingly and sycophantically rambling, I used to wonder why?” El-Rufai wrote. “However, confirming that Federal Government ‘reimbursements, interventions and grants’ in excess of N150bn have been given selectively to Kaduna by Tinubu, in the last 18 months, now explains everything.”
El-Rufai’s post suggests that Governor Sani’s defense of Tinubu was motivated by the substantial financial assistance Kaduna has received from the federal government under the current administration. The former governor implied that this assistance, amounting to billions of naira, may have influenced Sani’s praise of Tinubu. “By all means, defend Asiwaju for the conditional cash transfer. Asiwaju has earned it, coming from you,” he added, in a thinly veiled jab at Sani’s motivations.
Despite his sharp criticism, El-Rufai indicated that the people of Kaduna will ultimately judge Governor Sani’s actions. “The people of Kaduna State will judge at the right time and place,” El-Rufai concluded, suggesting that Sani’s political actions will be scrutinized by the public in the future.
