Andy Ezeani
Tuesday, February 17,2026
There is, perhaps, no person so difficult to defend in Nigeria’s public space at the moment as Nasir el Rufai. It is extremely difficult, if not impossible, to mount a meaningful defense of el Rufai in sincerity and in good conscience.
To take up such a task, one has to first, wipe off from memory a substantial chunk of el Rufai’s record and disposition at various critical junctures.
Very few people have, by their nature and their own volition, rendered themselves so indefensible as the former minister and ex-governor. His antecedents, his inciting utterances, and his insensitive posture on sensitive issues task whosever may be inclined to rise in his defense, whether from the legal, political, or social standpoint.
El Rufai appears to always live for the moment. Somehow, however, tomorrow always catches up with him. Whether he truly expects those he gratuitously trampled on yesterday to embrace him the next day remains unknown.
Squared up presently against el Rufai is the President Bola Tinubu government.
No other government in memory made it so difficult, if not impossible, for the majority of the citizens to trust it as the Tinubu government. It is immersed in a culture of double standard, manifest insincerity and unrepentant embrace of inequity that bothers on iniquity. The Tinubu government does not make it easy for anyone to wholeheartedly support its activities and policies.
Only the horde of integrity-challenged talking heads that so easily deny their yesterday have no problems with the inscrutable ways of the Tinubu government. Not that those ones believe in anything, anyway.
The underlying philosophy of the government in its policies appears almost always to be anchored on promoting contradictions and trying to hoodwink everybody. What is wrong can so easily be presented to be right by the Tinubu government, while what is right can easily be made to be wrong.
So now, here we are with two bad cases contending for public trust. On one side is el-Rufai, virtually impossible to defend or trust on any score. On the other end is the Tinubu government, which is extremely challenging to trust or embrace at any point. A government that is in denial of glaring multi-dimensional tragedies engulfing its citizens.
It is trite to note that if el-Rufai had been appointed a minister in the Tinubu government, he surely would not be the implacable activist and agitator against the misdeeds of the Tinubu government that he has transformed into.
A video of his characteristic impudent and insensitive interview the day Tinubu was declared president in February 2023 spoke volume of el Rufai’s personality. That interview recently re-emerged on the internet, for obvious reasons.
Frowning and brash as can be, the former governor extoled Tinubu to high heavens in the interview. He said the All Progressives Congress (APC) presidential candidate acquitted himself as governor of Lagos State,and that evidenced his preparedness for president.
He also asserted in the same interview that Tinubu’s emergence as president had settled some thorny issues in Nigeria’s politics. For one, he said, the development had laid to rest the argument for religious and zonal balancing in Nigeria’s politics.
Although he had excoriated the same Tinubu previously and discountenanced him and his shady antecedent, by February 2023, Tinubu was it for el-Rufai. That was before the ministerial mishap.
The process of Nasir el-Rufai’s ministerial appointment, as is well known, was on course,in mid 2023, alongside other cabinet nominees, until there was a glitch.
It turned out that Tinubu had planned to extract his pound of flesh in a most dramatic and cold manner. The screening at the Senate was expected to be a shoo-in. The “Carry go” 10th Senate that was out from the onset to jump higher than any mark President Tinubu pointed out was not the chamber to reject any nominee unless it was asked to do so. It was asked to do so for just one nominee.
Unfortunately, el-Rufai did not have an inkling of what awaited him. His supposed Senate screening turned out to be a charade. The well-programmed deception outsmarted a master of chicanery.
Neither el-Rufai nor the Tinubu government has had peace since that ministerial debacle. El-Rufai’s recent activism has, therefore, been, more or less, an accidental vocation.
It bears stating also, that had el-Rufai been confirmed minister and counted in the fold of Tinubu’s henchmen,as he had appeared headed for, he would have been a Saint before such agencies like the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC). They would surely not be inviting him over allegations of financial infractions during his tenure as governor.
In spite of its many unconvincing and indeed unnecessary explanations, the EFCC knows as Nigerians do, that it sees only the stain on people on the other side of the government. Its definition of corruption is quite elastic, and its weapon for fighting the menace can turn outrightly obtuse if need be.
The ongoing confrontation between the Tinubu government and Nasir el-Rufai highlights the challenges of a society that runs on a shaky ethical ground. As governor in Kaduna State, el-Rufai’s record in the area of respect for human rights and the right of communities and individuals were so horrible that he could so easily and successfully be arraigned before the International Court of Justice.
He simply didn’t care about his indiscretions. Now, here he is; an activist for human rights.
But the government that hounds him is by no means of a nobler pedigree.
The challenge of the moment is, does the society gain or lose from dismissing the wrongs and infractions in the government pointed out by an enfant terrible of yesterday? If el-Rufai raises alarm and says that the office of the National Security Adviser has imported a substantial quantity of the toxic chemical, thallium sulphate without appropriate documentation and for uncertain purpose, does it help the society to wave him aside because of his antecedent?
There are many things that thallium sulphate can be used for.The society just need to pay attention. These are dangerous times in Nigeria.
The office of the National Security Adviser and the government it serves can not pretend not to know that all manner of serious accusations have been levied against that sensitive office in recent times.
So, does it pay to dismiss el-Rufai without properly investigating what he has alleged? Of course, the Tinubu government can not be trusted to honestly investigate an allegation made against one of its own by an enemy.
El Rufai once alleged that the same office of NSA was in cahoots with bandits and terrorists, that it paid huge sums of money to them. Now, he has also alleged that the office of the National security Adviser whimsically instructs judicial officers and such institutions as EFCC on what to do, who to pull in, or who should not be granted bail. The tallium sulphate importation adds a chilling dimension to the allegations.
Is it helpful to dismiss all this by simply saying that el-Rufai is bitter? If only the Tinubu government could be believed or trusted to act in protect Nigerians. Sadly, not many believe whatever the government says.
Maybe it would have been better if el-Rufai had stayed with them in Tinubu’s government. It would have been tidier to have all of them in one corner. Neither the government nor el-Rufai is trusted by the people. This makes their clash a burden to society. It is such a peculiar mess.However, it may be costly to overlook el Rufai’s recent alarms
