Weighing El-Rufai, Uba Sani on a political scale

I decided on the exercise of weighing Malam Nasir El Rufai, immediate-past governor of Kaduna state, and his successor, incumbent Governor Uba Sani, in order to clear the many misconceptions, obfuscations and the deliberate and mischievous attempts by some people to paint the wrong pictures before the unsuspecting public. 

The disputes or debates got intensified since the exit of El-Rufai from office and the emergence of Uba Sani at the Sir Kashim Ibrahim House, Kaduna in May 2023. A lot of people were made to believe that El-Rufai has all along been the force behind the political progress of Senator Uba Sani, from his going to the Senate to his election as governor. To those who know, nothing can be farther from the truth.

Before delving further, I wish to make the point that initially, Senator Uba Sani was not the choice of El-Rufai as his successor. To those in the know of the inner house political intrigues that was playing out, Uba Sani was reluctantly supported by El-Rufai when it became obvious that he was surest bet to win the election for the APC.

El-Rufai, in his own words, came into the public space as an “accidental public servant”, with his appointment as the Director General of the Bureau for Public Enterprises, BPE. This is unlike Governor Uba Sani who, from the very early start of his adult life, consciously chose the path of selflessness and altruism in the service and advancement of humanity.

Way back to his days at the Kaduna Polytechnic, the budding Uba Sani engaged in progressive student union and radical left political activism from where he got the epithet: comrade. Incidentally, his path crossed with a political soulmate and a fellow student, Senator Shehu Sani. The friendship and camaraderie between the two have played out at several national and regional political  fora.

The contributions and track records of  Uba Sani to national political struggles for democracy and justice, against military dictatorship, autocracy and repressive policies are loud testimonies of his extraordinary courage, vision and unbridled patriotism. His political Odyssey is also the narratives of the adventures of an incisively intelligent, calculating and selfless team player.

Uba Sani, for example, stood out as one of the few youths of northern extraction, who dared to identify and actively partook in the then dangerous but heroic struggles of challenging the brutal military dictatorship of the late General Sani Abacha. In this regard, he was in the trenches with the late phenomenal Chief Gani Fawehinmi. 

At a time it was very dangerous to do so, Uba Sani dared to join the National Democratic Coalition, NADECO, the umbrella body of all the political movements and activities with the twin aims of actualisation of the annulled June 12, 1993 presidential election and, ousting the military from the political scene. By that, he was providentially onboard the ship captained by now, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.

He was also a foundation member of the Joint Action Committee of Nigeria, JACON, where he worked alongside the political icon, the late Alhaji Abdulkadir Balarabe Musa, and the few were courageous enough to take the bull by the horn.

In recognition of Uba Sani’s bravery, his single-minded commitment to the national course and leadership qualities, even at that tender age, he was elected as the deputy chairman to Fawehinmi in the National Conscience Party, NCP. The NCP was formed in 1994, first, “to defy the military”, and later in 2003, as a political party that contested the 2003 presidential election.

Where and who was El Rufai during those historic moments of the country? Where was the man who is today strutting around in rather unfitting and borrowed garbs of a political mentor and godfather? Literally, the answer is: El-Rufai was still wallowing in the political wilderness.

El-Rufai came to political limelight when the then Vice President Atiku Abubakar facilitated his appointment as the BPE DG. The political baptism of El-Rufai was further emblazoned with his appointment as the FCT minister by President Olusegun Obasanjo in 2003. President Muhammadu Buhari completed the process by influencing El-Rufai’s securing the APC ticket and winning the 2015 Kaduna governorship election.

The image of El-Rufai as a political colossus is bloated, outlandish and bogus when put on the political scale. His track records in public service clearly does not render him as deserving of the lofty image of a political godfather. For one who regales in the buzz and  razzmatazz of the sunshine side, the  attractive image of a political master strategist was very appropriate, even if it was false.

Seeing himself as “self-made”, a political maverick, El-Rufai is not one that acknowledges, talkless of reciprocating the roles played by individuals in his elevation through the political ladder. Rather, he has a penchant of talking down and disparaging people who, decency and good conscience, demand that he should rever. Eminent personalities, who, in spite of the crucial roles they played in his political trajectory, that have been assaulted and impugned at various times by Nasir El Rufai include, Obasanjo who appointed him FCT minister and who doted on him as a father would dote on a beloved son.

Even though it is public knowledge that Atiku Abubakar played a pivotal role in his very first major appointment in the public service, El-Rufai would later descend on the former vice president  with demeaning and unprintable invectives on several occasions. Not even the late President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua, in his grave, was spared the venomous tongue of the erstwhile governor of Kaduna state.

The Olympian height of El-Rufai’s political impunity, nay, arrogance was perhaps when he vociferously declared that: “There are no elders in the North”! By this, El Rufai was simply denigrating the region’s living legends –  Generals Yakubu Gowon, Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida, Abdulsalami Abubakar, TY Danjuma, Zamani Lekwot as well as, Malam Tanko Yakasai and Professors Iya Abubakar, Aminu Jubril and Ango Abdullahi and the entire clan of Nigerian elder statesmen of northern extraction, who had tremendously contributed to the advancement of the North and the entire country.

When the scorecards of El-Rufai and Uba Sani are juxtaposed, the picture is crystal clear as to who has a better political mastery. For instance, looking at their tenures as governors of Kaduna state, it is important that we begin by examining  the fundamental and critical area of peace, security and harmonious coexistence among the divergent communities under the two. 

2015 and 2023 saw harrowing wave of unprecedented violence in Kaduna state. Under El-Rufai, banditry and kidnapping for ransom were incessant occurrences in rural areas, cities and on the highways. According to official statistics, over 20,000 people were killed in the several inter-communal clashes frequently experienced under the governorship of El-Rufai.

Like the Roman Emperor Nero who was fiddling while Rome was burning, El-Rufai was not bothered, showed no qualms or empathy over the blood bath that was taking place under his watch. In fact, he was stoking the fire of ethnic and religious conflicts through his government’s policies of discriminatory and lopsided appointments and disdainful and condescending derogatory public remarks about people of particular sections of the state.

In contrast to the preceding era, people of Kaduna state have been heaving a sigh of relief for the atmosphere of peace and tranquility that is rapidly returning to the state in less than two years of Uba Sani’s leadership. The highways are fast becoming safe, just as with bandits laying down their arms and embracing peace in droves, the forests and rural areas are becoming safer.

Last Saturday, February, 15, 2025, in the town of Kafanchan, Kaduna state witnessed an earthshaking political incident, with the decamping to the APC of top chieftains of opposition politicians in the state. Who could have imagined the likes of former governor Ramalan Yero, Senators Shehu Hunkuyi, JD La’ah and Shehu Sani going over into the APC? Certainly, that could not have happened when El-Rufai was calling the shots.

The magic wand of Uba Sani is simply, providing just, equitable and fair leadership to all segments of the state. An urbane, polished and experienced politician, Uba Sani is not encumbered by any forms of bigotry. Focused and firm yet, humble and self-effacing, Uba Sani is a silent achiever without being brash, boisterous and cacophonous. An old saying goes thus: “empty vessels make the loudest sound.” Therein lies the difference.