Adlai Stevenson made this statement during the 1956 U.S. presidential campaign while referring to Richard Nixon. Stevenson, a Democratic candidate, was criticising Nixon’s perceived political opportunism and hypocrisy. He essentially accused Nixon of double-dealing and insincerity—suggesting that Nixon would cause harm or exploit a situation and then pretend to champion its cause. The imagery of cutting down a redwood tree (a symbol of conservation) while making a speech about environmental protection vividly portrays someone acting in contradiction to their stated principles yet still seeking credit for doing the right thing.
You wouldn’t be far from the truth if you said Adlai Stevenson had the former diminutive Governor of Kaduna State, Nasir El-Rufai, in mind when he made this scathing remark about Richard Nixon.
The former governor has lost out in the power-sharing formula of his own ruling party, the APC, and like an overburdened child, he is all over social media throwing tantrums and threatening to bring down the entire house.
El-Rufai’s foray into his fair-weather social activism began after the Senate rejected his nomination for a ministerial post by the President, based on a security report and a series of petitions against him that could not be overlooked.
The man became a wounded lion, and like a fish out of water, he wasn’t comfortable with the decision of the upper legislative chamber. He felt the President had betrayed his trust. Now, he has teamed up with opposition party leaders to fight his own party and no longer sees anything good in what the government of the day does, whether good or bad.
I really feel pity for El-Rufai. The man was already gearing up to take the juicy position of power minister, and there is a rumour that he had already sent his proposal on how he was going to lead the country out of darkness and restore a 24-hour power supply to President Tinubu. Little did he know that he was going to be powerless at the end of the day.
At this point, I would like to ask El-Rufai the same question his wife asked one of their rabble-rousing sons after he criticised the current administration: “Would you have been baying for the head of Tinubu if you had gotten the ministerial position?” Some people might argue that he criticised Buhari as well, but he wasn’t as vituperative as this.
It’s like dangling a sweet before a child and refusing to relinquish it when the child stretches out his or her hand to take it. You know the child is going to cry and might even damage things in the house. That’s exactly what El-Rufai is doing now. That is why discerning minds like mine will continue to take him with a pinch of salt.
The El-Rufai we know has an exaggerated sense of importance, and he seems to have transferred this trait to his children. I think he is the only Nigerian politician whose children insults anyone on social media at the slightest provocation. One of his children once bragged that his father is super-rich, and I wondered where and how his dad made the money. El-Rufai was not a millionaire when he joined politics, but today, he is super-rich, as his son alleged, courtesy of our common patrimony.
Not only President Tinubu, but Nasiru is also at loggerheads with his successor, Governor Uba Sani—a governor he helped install to cover up his tracks in the Kaduna State Government House. But there is no love lost between them now, because Uba Sani saw the handwriting on the wall and was not ready to be a puppet. And so, the battle line was drawn. He has since become El-Rufai and his children’s arch-enemy for refusing to play ball and for demanding accountability.
The governor met huge amounts of debt in the state, which is not commensurate with the work on the ground. He wondered where all the borrowed money and allocations had gone. If you are conversant with history, you would recall that the problem between Nasiru El-Rufai and Senator Shehu Sani, along with other senators from Kaduna, started after the lawmakers blocked his move to borrow over three hundred million dollars during his first term in office. None of the three senators made it back to the Senate. That was the price Senator Shehu Sani and others paid for refusing to allow the future of the good people of Kaduna State to be mortgaged.
Now, El-Rufai has threatened Governor Uba Sani, vowing to ensure he does not get a second term. But it remains to be seen whether the good people of Kaduna State will allow him to have his way.
Interestingly, Governor Uba Sani has hit the ground running since taking over. In terms of security, Kaduna State is no longer the den of bandits and criminals that it was under Nasiru. He is also working around the clock to ensure that the money Nasiru and his cronies allegedly stole from Kaduna State’s coffers is returned, much to the chagrin of his estranged political godfather.
It is funny how Nasiru hates the idea of political godfathers yet wants to be one himself. El-Rufai once boasted that he had the template to end Tinubu’s reign in Lagos. That if Lagosians were serious, he would give them the template. He bragged about how he succeeded in retiring political godfathers in Kaduna, but now that he has been served a taste of his own medicine, he is behaving like a sore loser.
There is no denying the fact that El-Rufai’s selective crusade against President Tinubu and Uba Sani is nothing but a case of sour grapes. His current outbursts are not driven by any noble cause or genuine desire for good governance; they stem from a bruised ego and a desperate attempt to remain politically relevant.
May I also remind him at this point that true leadership is about consistency, integrity, and service to the people—not about self-interest disguised as activism.
The people of Kaduna and Nigerians at large are becoming more politically aware. They can see through the antics of politicians who only champion reform when it serves their interests. El-Rufai may continue his selective crusade, but in the end, history will judge him not by his rhetoric, but by his actions. And from all indications, his legacy will be one of contradictions—one of a man who fought political strongmen only to attempt to become one himself and one who speaks only when it benefits him.
Hamza Aliyu, a political analyst, writes from Kaduna.
