El-Rufai confirms rift with governor Uba Sani

Former Kaduna state governor, Nasir El-Rufai, has publicly acknowledged a fallout with his successor, Governor Uba Sani, attributing the rift to financial dealings involving conditional cash transfers from President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s administration.
El-Rufai’s revelation comes in the wake of Governor Sani’s dismissal of reports about any disagreement between the two leaders. Speaking during a TVC interview on Monday, Sani described their relationship as cordial and dismissed speculations of a crisis.
In the interview, Sani criticized opposition politicians forming coalitions ahead of the 2027 presidential elections. He described them as “power-hungry individuals” who failed to deliver during their time in office.
“Most of these politicians claiming to be part of a coalition were in government just two years ago. What did they achieve? They only fought for power without delivering meaningful results,” Sani said. He further praised Tinubu’s leadership, stating that “no president in the history of Nigeria has really practised democracy like President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.”
However, El-Rufai took to social media platform X (formerly Twitter) to counter Sani’s remarks, accusing him of sycophancy due to financial gains from Tinubu’s administration.
“Every day I see this governor embarrassingly and sycophantically rambling, I used to wonder why?” 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 urged Kaduna residents to judge the situation at the appropriate time and encouraged Sani to continue “defending Asiwaju” if he wished.
The feud between the two leaders has intensified against the backdrop of corruption allegations by the Kaduna State House of Assembly.
The legislative body recently accused El-Rufai’s administration of mismanaging ₦432bn, leaving the state burdened with substantial debt liabilities.
El-Rufai confirms rift with governor Uba Sani