Nasir El Rufai is without a doubt an enigma. The man carries a larger than life aura about himself— and whether true or not, the man certainly believes in his confidence, while people like myself see it as narcissism.
It is this belief in himself that lead him to decamp from his party, the ruling All progressives Congress (APC) to little known Social Democratic Party (SDP). Not many people were surprised that he jumped ship of course. The trials and tribulations he’s had beginning from the time he handed over power and his failed ministerial bid were more than enough to destroy the man’s overinflated ego.
I do not think that even in his wildest dreams had he thought this could happen to him. But it has, and a year and a few months after, he is clearly hurting from the public humiliation and rejection.
For an unapologetic neoliberal capitalist, his choice of party, the SDP, is rather strange. His ideals and those of his new political lair are totally out of tune with each other. While El Rufai ruthlessly promoted and implemented elitist and capitalist policies in Kaduna during his eight years in office, the SDP, by its name and manifesto, champions the cause of the masses and advocates for a more equitable distribution of wealth.
El-Rufai doesn’t believe in this. He is on record stating that “Abuja doesn’t belong to the poor” during his time as Minister of the Federal Capital Territory. He also famously declared that he does not believe in rural development. True to his words, 95% of Kaduna’s 23 local government areas felt little to no impact from his administration. His focus was almost exclusively on Kaduna City, with minimal attention given to Zaria and Kafanchan. The vast majority of rural residents were left to fend for themselves.
Even the so-called “concentration” he gave Kaduna City doesn’t justify the humongous amount of money that accrued to Kaduna during his tenure. His much-touted urban renewal project, which includes three bridges (the second and third unfinished), one underpass, a refurbished Murtala Square, and a few township link roads, is frankly amateurish. These projects do not reflect the work of a man who claimed to be transforming Kaduna. Nothing has been transformed. El Rufai left the people of Kaduna exactly as he found them—no improvement in quality of life, no increase in earnings, no better healthcare, and no enhanced education.
In his zeal for what he called “urban transformation,” El Rufai destroyed the socio-economic fabric of Kaduna’s predominantly artisan population. He demolished houses at will, outlawed street hawking and roadside stalls, and banned commercial motorcycles—all without providing viable alternatives. He sacked civil servants en masse, hired consultants to replace them, and refused to pay their entitlements.
He also overhauled the pension scheme, leaving many civil servants in a deplorable state. He didn’t stop there. El Rufai arbitrarily increased school fees for tertiary institutions, a policy that effectively reduced the number of students in these schools and deprived countless people of access to education.
Any student of political science would tell you that these are classic neoliberal policies. Neoliberals do not believe in government subsidies; they strongly support a free-market economy, which we all know gives undue advantage to the rich at the expense of the poor. This is the man who has now joined a socialist party whose ideology places citizens at the center of its governance. The contradiction could not be more glaring.
Nasir El Rufai is not an innocent bystander, as he claims to be. He was actively involved in selling the candidacy of President Bola Tinubu, even taking the previous administration to the cleaners and publicly denigrating northern elders whom he felt were not supportive enough.
One might ask: Why would a man who went to such lengths to market a candidate suddenly backtrack and oppose him? The answer is simple: He didn’t get what he wanted. On several occasions, El Rufai has stated that he does not want to be a minister again, that he wants to rest and write his book. Just before leaving office, he granted interviews in which he said that, if nominated, he would propose people he had mentored instead. He gave the example of Hafiz Bayero, whom he claimed could do the job. Yet, when he was nominated, he immediately began researching Nigeria’s power sector, a portfolio he thought he would get.
He even answered questions about it during his Senate screening. At no point between his nomination and screening did El Rufai publicly declare that he wasn’t interested or that he had proposed Hafiz Bayero and the President rejected. His recent comments on BBC Hausa confirm that he wanted the job and was ready for it. It is no wonder then, that when he was rejected due to a security report, he became embittered.
I am no defender of this government—far from it. But El Rufai’s quest for change is not driven by the economic hardships facing Nigerians. It is not about the inflation ravaging the country, the removal of fuel subsidies that has tripled market prices and slashed purchasing power, it is not about the unification of exchange rates that has caused prices to skyrocket, or the 100% increase in customs duties that has further exacerbated the cost of living.
It is not about the tripled price of bread or any of the neoliberal policies this government, which he helped bring to power, has enacted. No. El Rufai is against this government because he was rejected, and his ego was bruised. We all know what this does to a small man.
His supporters, in their feeble attempts to defend his ministerial debacle, claim that President Tinubu, during the Kaduna State Investment Summit in October 2022, begged El Rufai to serve in his cabinet if he won the 2023 election. They argue that this is why El Rufai could not reject the nomination and propose one of his mentees. They forget that after this event, El Rufai granted several interviews in which he proclaimed he was not interested in becoming a minister again and that there were younger people who could do the job. They would also be surprised to learn that Babatunde Fashola was offered a ministerial role, which he rejected, opting to rest instead. Why couldn’t El Rufai do the same? We all know the reason: he wanted the job.
El Rufai’s zeal for change is not about the people. Not once, in all his interviews since starting this crusade, has he spoken about the hardships Nigerians are facing due to the terrible policies of this administration—an administration he helped bring to power. Not once! His interviews have always been about him and him alone. The conclusion, based on his own words, is that he is fighting for himself. It is not about the people; it is about his relevance and personal vendetta against a government he feels he should be an integral part of because of his contributions to its electoral success.
Ordinarily, since leaving government and becoming irrelevant, El Rufai would have faded from the limelight and our concern. But now that he is trying to reinvent himself as a populist and align with the masses, it has become imperative for well-meaning Nigerians to expose him and ensure he does not deceive the people a third time.
El Rufai’s recent attempts to reinvent himself as a populist are nothing more than a calculated move to regain relevance. He is using his current travails—his potential prosecution in Kaduna and his rejection by the Tinubu administration—to position himself as a victim of political persecution. He wants Nigerians to believe that he is being targeted for serving his people well, but nothing could be further from the truth. The reality is that the Kaduna State government, led by his protégé is investigating allegations of corruption and mismanagement during his tenure. These investigations are not about politics; they are about accountability.
For instance, El Rufai recently defended himself against accusations of corruption related to the proposed Kaduna Light Rail project. He admitted that his administration spent over a billion naira on feasibility studies with Indian companies before the loan to build the project was even approved. This reckless expenditure of public funds is synonymous of his governance style. He was so eager to spend the meager resources of Kaduna State on a phantom project that had yet to be approved. These are the sorts of things the state government wants to investigate. Yet, true to his character, El Rufai has already run to the media, claiming oppression and aligning himself with the masses, as if to say, “Just like you are suffering, so am I.”
These days, El Rufai has turned into a whiner. He goes from radio station to TV station whistleblowing on the government he helped bring to power. He portrays himself as an honest person betrayed by the very people he thought were his friends. He has completely lost touch with reality in his quest for vengeance, forgetting the myriad of people he has betrayed in the past. If anything, he is being served the same dish he served his benefactors over the years. Had El Rufai become a minister as he wanted, he would be at the forefront supporting and defending this government.
It is important for Nigerians to realize the type of man El Rufai is. His former boss, the man who gave him his first shot at governance aptly described him when he said, “Nasir El Rufai is only loyal to Nasir El Rufai.” And there it is.
El-Rufai’s sudden alignment with the masses is a calculated move to regain relevance. He is using his current travails to position himself as a persecuted hero, hoping to elicit sympathy from the very people he once exploited. However, Nigerians must not be deceived. El-Rufai is not fighting for the people; he is fighting for himself. His actions are driven by personal vendetta, not a genuine desire for change.
As Nigerians consider joining hands with El Rufai in his new political venture, they must remember his track record. He is a man who has consistently prioritized his own interests over those of the people he serves. His duplicity and self-serving nature make him unfit to lead any movement for genuine change. Nasir El Rufai is not the answer. El Rufai, like the rest of them, should be thrown into the trash can of history and forgotten there, permanently.
Aminu Adamu writes from Kaduna.