For two decades, former governor of Kaduna State Nasir El-Rufai and his successor, Uba Sani, were inseparable. But barely a year since Sani succeeded El-Rufai as governor, the relationship between the erstwhile soulmates is being tested.
Addressing residents of Kaduna State at a recent town hall, Governor Uba Sani revealed that his administration was struggling to pay salaries. He blamed the development on the loans taken out by his predecessor, Nasir El-Rufai, which amounted to $587m, N85bn ($85m) and 115 contract liabilities.
This angered El-Rufai’s son, Bashir, who took to social media to attack the governor for throwing his father under the bus. Bashir also accused the governor of “sleeping in Abuja” when he should be on duty at his post.
“These guys have realised that they are wholly incompetent and the only way to mask the nonsense is to deflect. From a governor who is always sleeping in Abuja to a litany of incompetent aides who were only rewarded for foolish political reasons,” Bashir said.
Barely a week later, the governor lamented the dilapidated educational and health infrastructure his office inherited. Sani said that around 1,500 public schools had no fences, which made them susceptible to terrorist attacks, while hospitals had not received any major funding in 20 years. This was despite El-Rufai’s administration having earmarked millions of dollars for such projects.
“Our 32 general hospitals, as we speak, most are not functional,” the governor said.
Rant against lawmakers
The Kaduna State House of Assembly commenced a probe of El-Rufai’s administration to find out how $350m in World Bank funding had been spent. Some key members of El-Rufai’s administration and former lawmakers were subsequently invited to testify.
The immediate past speaker of the state parliament, Yusuf Zailani, said he experienced hardship under the previous administration for refusing to approve loans for the El-Rufai administration.
“I suffered a lot by fighting and refusing to give approvals for loans,” Zailani tells The Africa Report, adding that despite not receiving legislative approval, El-Rufai went ahead to take the loans anyway.
Another of El-Rufai’s sons, Bello, a federal lawmaker, also took to social media to ridicule those probing his father. He publicly asked his father to give him the go-ahead to attack his detractors.
“One ignorant former speaker that was slapped by a former speaker that can’t speak English. Shall we begin with the basics, this incompetent bastards? On Mallam’s [El-Rufai’s] honour and competence, let’s discipline a useless assembly on ignorance. Let’s fight please!” Bello said in a post on X which he has since deleted.
Bello was said to have sent a series of nasty text messages to the speaker of the state parliament, Yusuf Liman, warning him to stop attacking his father. The Kaduna State House of Assembly then issued a statement warning Bello to stop threatening the lawmakers.
Godfathers v Godsons
In recent years, at least 12 governors have fought with their successors, whom they helped install as godsons.
When political godfathers plant landmines for their godsons, there is bound to be a pushback
Former governor Godswill Akpabio of Akwa Ibom was forced to leave the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) amid a feud with his successor, Udom Emmanuel, whom he had brought in from the private sector and anointed as his preferred successor.
Rivers State Governor Sim Fubara and his predecessor, Nyesom Wike, who serves in President Bola Tinubu’s cabinet, have been engaged in a publicised feud.
For many political observers, the strained relationship between Sani and El-Rufai is a familiar story in Nigerian politics.
“There is nothing new about such a development,” says newspaper columnist, Jide Ojo, who tells The Africa Report that governors must stop handpicking their successors as it has become counter-productive.
“When political godfathers plant landmines for their godsons, there is bound to be a pushback. The people of Kaduna felt Sani was not performing. So, he came out with the debt figure to prove to them that it is not his fault,” Ojo says.
From sweet to sour
Sani had burst into the limelight in Nigeria’s political scene in the mid-1990s as a pro-democracy activist during the military era. He was said to have been brought into former president Olusegun Obasanjo’s government on the recommendation of El-Rufai, who had been handling the government’s privatisation programme. When El-Rufai was named the minister of the federal capital, overseeing massive projects in Abuja, he brought Sani to work with him and they grew closer.
In 2015, when El-Rufai was elected governor of Kaduna State, he appointed Sani as one of his trusted aides. El-Rufai then began the Kaduna urban city renewal project but was hampered due to the lack of funds.
Nigerian law says that states must seek approval from the federal parliament to receive a foreign loan. The federal lawmakers from Kaduna blocked El-Rufai, who cursed them publicly.
He then carefully crafted a plan to ease out these senators from the party and ensured that Sani became the senator representing the Kaduna-Central district.
While Sani was in federal parliament, Bello became his legislative aide. El-Rufai is said to have lobbied to ensure that Sani was put in charge of the legislative committee on banking – a powerful portfolio which oversees the central bank and other financial institutions and approves foreign loans.
As chairman of the Senate Committee on Banking, Sani facilitated the approval of a $350m World Bank loan for the Kaduna State Government at the request of El-Rufai, and even promised to ensure that the loan would be put to proper use.
“I even insist that I, Senator Uba Sani, be held liable if the governor fails or disappoints. But, of course, I know Mallam Nasir El-Rufai will never fail the people of Kaduna State. I am extremely happy and proud of the role some of us played in securing this loan for Kaduna State,” he said.
El-Rufai subsequently endorsed Sani as his preferred successor and ensured that Sani won the tightly contested election.
Where’s the money?
Considering El-Rufai’s role in Sani’s victory and the latter’s role in facilitating the foreign debt, many wonder why the governor is lamenting the state’s debt profile.
“The governor will make all the right noises to dis-anchor his administration from that of El-Rufai who might want to use him to run a proxy government. Also, if the governor fails, he has an alibi in El-Rufai’s failures,” says Abimbola Adelakun, an author and professor at the University of Texas at Austin.
El-Rufai needs to caution his children against making unguarded comments about the state
However, a mutual friend of El-Rufai and Sani tells The Africa Report that the genesis of the friction between the two men emanated from El-Rufai’s inability to scale through the Senate during his ministerial screening last year.
El-Rufai had been nominated as a minister by Tinubu and was expected to take up the portfolio of energy minister, overseeing electricity and gas reforms. However, he was dropped after a security report determined that he was not fit for the appointment.
His disgrace was said to have been orchestrated by National Security Adviser Nuhu Ribadu and APC national chairman, Abdullahi Ganduje.
“After El-Rufai failed to get confirmed at the Senate, he expected Sani to have his back and have a word with the president. Rather, Sani decided to nominate a replacement, thereby fuelling reports in El-Rufai’s camp that [Sani] had a hand in [El-Rufai’s] Senate rejection,” says the mutual friend, who wished to remain anonymous.
Our source adds that Sani, while fighting a battle challenging his electoral victory in court, sought help from some elements in the Tinubu administration who were enemies of El-Rufai.
“These are the same characters that are trying to cause friction between El-Rufai and his successor,” he says, adding that the debts Sani inherited from his predecessor were the last straw.
El-Rufai has been holding meetings with members of the opposition PDP amid rumours that he may be running for president, a development that rattled the Tinubu presidency. El-Rufai described the meetings as harmless.
Recently, El-Rufai said that contrary to claims by the Tinubu administration that the petrol subsidy had been removed, the government had begun paying huge subsidies again. This angered the Tinubu administration.
For analyst Ojo, the former governor may need to step back and also caution his sons. “El-Rufai needs to caution his children against making unguarded comments about the state. If he fails to do so, it will be assumed that they are doing so with his blessings,” says Ojo.
(The Africa Report)
