Former Kaduna state governor Nasir El-Rufai has openly recognized a schism with his successor, Governor Uba Sani, citing financial deals involving conditional cash transfers from President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s administration.
El-Rufai’s revelation comes after Governor Sani dismissed claims of a conflict between the two leaders. During a TVC interview on Monday, Sani described their relationship as friendly and denied reports of a conflict.
In the interview, Sani blasted opposition lawmakers for creating coalitions ahead of the 2027 presidential race. He referred to them as “power-hungry individuals” who failed to perform throughout their terms in office.
“Most of these politicians professing to be part of a coalition were in power only two years ago. What did they achieve? “They only fought for power without producing tangible results,” Sani stated. He also lauded Tinubu’s leadership, claiming that “no president in the history of Nigeria has truly practised democracy like President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.”
However, El-Rufai responded to Sani’s remarks on social networking platform X (previously Twitter), accusing him of sycophancy in exchange for financial benefits from Tinubu’s administration.
I used to wonder why I saw this governor babbling in an awkward and sycophantic manner every day. El-Rufai wrote.
“However, confirming that the Federal Government ‘reimbursements, interventions, and grants’ in excess of N150bn have been given selectively to Kaduna by Tinubu now explains everything.”
El-Rufai advised Kaduna residents to assess the situation at the proper time and invited Sani to continue “defending Asiwaju” if he so desired.
The animosity between the two leaders has gotten worse as the Kaduna State House of Assembly has accused them of corruption.
The legislative body has accused El-Rufai’s administration of mismanaging ₦432 billion, leaving the state with significant debt issues.
