Nasir El-Rufai, the former governor of Kaduna State, has openly admitted to having a falling out with his successor, Governor Uba Sani, and has blamed the disagreement on financial transactions involving conditional cash transfers from the administration of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
The disclosure follows Sani’s recent insistence in an interview that their relationship is still friendly while downplaying reports of any friction.
In a TVC interview on Monday, Sani firmly rejected reports of a feud, describing them as mere speculation. He also took the opportunity to criticise opposition politicians, accusing them of being “power-hungry individuals” who failed to deliver meaningful progress during their time in office.
“Most of these politicians, who are now part of a coalition, were in government just two years ago. What did they achieve? They only fought for power without delivering any results,” Sani remarked.
He also expressed strong support for President Tinubu, praising his leadership and asserting that “no president in Nigeria’s history has truly practiced democracy like President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.”
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However, El-Rufai took to social media platform X (formerly Twitter) to challenge Sani’s statements, accusing the governor of sycophancy fueled by financial benefits from Tinubu’s government.
“Every day I see this governor embarrassingly and sycophantically rambling, I used to wonder why?” El-Rufai posted, adding that recent reports showing over N150bn in federal reimbursements and grants to Kaduna from Tinubu’s administration helped explain Sani’s actions.
El-Rufai further urged residents of Kaduna to form their own judgment when the time is right, encouraging Sani to continue “defending Asiwaju” if he so wished.
The tension between the two leaders is escalating amidst ongoing allegations of corruption from the Kaduna State House of Assembly.
The legislative body recently accused El-Rufai’s administration of mismanaging a staggering ₦432bn, leaving the state with significant debt liabilities.
