Nasir Ahmad El-Rufai’s latest tirade against the All Progressives Congress (APC) is not the voice of a patriot—it is the cry of a man consumed by bitterness and political rejection. Once paraded as a reformer, El-Rufai’s real legacy is a trail of controversies, failures, and arrogance that helped fracture the very foundations of governance he now pretends to defend.
His sudden concern for Nigeria’s social fabric would be more compelling if it weren’t coming from someone who actively contributed to tearing it apart. He now claims the APC government is incompetent and clannish, yet it was under this same party platform that he rose to the governorship of Kaduna State, where he ruled with an iron fist, stoked religious and ethnic divisions, and left the state in a far worse condition than he met it. Kaduna, under El-Rufai, became one of the most dangerous places in Nigeria. Thousands were killed in sectarian violence. Mass abductions and insecurity flourished, while the governor’s responses ranged from tone-deaf press releases to provocative rhetoric.
More damning is El-Rufai’s notorious history as the Director General of the Bureau of Public Enterprises during the Obasanjo administration. Under his leadership, Nigeria’s key public assets were handed over to private interests in what many still regard as one of the most scandalous economic betrayals in our history. National treasures like NITEL, Nigeria Airways, and steel facilities such as Ajaokuta were sold off at grossly undervalued prices to favored individuals and entities with questionable capacity to manage them. The privatization process lacked transparency and accountability, benefiting a few elites while workers were thrown into unemployment and the public was left with broken systems.
Even the Senate Committee on Privatization later described his activities at the BPE as rushed, opaque, and damaging to national development. These actions did not reflect the vision of a man committed to national progress—they were the hallmarks of a technocrat drunk on power and shielded by privilege. The consequences of those missteps are still being felt today.
Throughout his public career, El-Rufai has carried himself with an air of superiority, often dismissing dissenting voices and ridiculing those who challenge his views. His disdain for criticism, penchant for controversy, and divisive utterances have earned him both domestic and international rebuke. This is the same man who once referred to Southern Kaduna Christians as “perpetual complainers,” even as violence ravaged their communities. He insulted fellow governors in leaked private messages and once boasted that he was “unapologetically arrogant” because, in his words, “I am always right.”
Now, denied a ministerial appointment by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu GCFR, El-Rufai has turned his anger on the very platform that gave him a national profile. His recent verbal attacks on the APC and warnings of the impending collapse of Nigeria’s unity are not born of patriotism—they are manifestations of bruised ego and denied ambition. A man who once sought to dictate the direction of national policy is now throwing stones from the outside, not because the house is broken, but because he was not allowed back in.
It is deeply ironic that El-Rufai, who helped engineer many of the policies and political structures he now condemns, wants Nigerians to believe he has suddenly found moral clarity. The man who once sold public assets for peanuts and ran Kaduna like a fiefdom now wants to style himself as a defender of democracy and good governance.
But Nigeria knows better.
His political frustrations, thinly veiled as activism, are unconvincing. El-Rufai’s brand of politics has always centered around self-interest wrapped in sanctimony. He is not speaking truth to power; he is speaking bitterness to relevance. His words are not warnings from a wise elder—they are the groans of a man being left behind by a nation he once sought to manipulate.
Nigerians must not be misled. We must remember who El-Rufai really is—a man who sold off our national wealth, ruled with impunity, sowed division, and now wants to rewrite his legacy with fiery speeches. We must not allow failed reformers to masquerade as revolutionaries. El-Rufai had his chance to serve. He chose self.
And now, the people have chosen to move on without him.
