“You Cannot Lock Him Up And Think His Influence Goes Away” — El-Rufai’s DG Declares Ex-Governor Unstoppable Despite Detention

Dr. Uche Diala, Director General of the El-Rufai Support Groups Association, has said attempts to keep former Kaduna State Governor, Mallam Nasir El-Rufai, out of circulation to win elections will fail, insisting that his continued detention has only revealed the truth about him to Nigerians.

Diala spoke during an appearance on Trust TV’s Daily Politics, where he addressed El-Rufai’s open letter, his ongoing trial and his political relevance.

“If the thinking is that if you keep Mallam Nasir El-Rufai out of circulation, that somebody will win an election, I think that strategy—they better go back and look at it. Because what has happened is that people have now come to know the truth about El-Rufai. All—a whole lot of lies that were said about him, the truth has come out, people now know. Whether it’s Southern Kaduna, whether it’s the Christian talk, whether it’s everything. If he wasn’t put there, people would not know the truth,” Diala said.

He noted that the legal journey which started in February has dragged to September, with the last adjournment pushing the case to October.

“Like they say in Nigeria, ‘like joke, like joke,’ we are here in September. And we are sure that we are here till October, because the last adjournment a few days—two days ago, takes us to October. So by October, you have how many months to January? But in everything, God is in control,” he said.

Responding to whether the long incarceration would make El-Rufai politically irrelevant in Kaduna, Diala dismissed the notion.

“I am not from Kaduna State, but I’m sufficiently—I am a Nigerian. You know, I have my eye everywhere. I’m sufficiently informed. You can see what happened recently, I think few days ago in Kaduna. There was a walk, and you can see. The fact is that the question of whether El-Rufai is still relevant in Kaduna is a question that even the political neophytes will answer you,” he said.

“El-Rufai, whether outside or inside, is a force. And why is he a force? Because El-Rufai is—like the current Governor of Kaduna State once said, ‘El-Rufai is a man with a complicated destiny.’ He said that; I didn’t say that. And a man like that, you cannot wave him away. You cannot lock him up somewhere and then think, because you’ve locked him up somewhere, then his influence goes away. No!”

Diala said El-Rufai’s influence remains because he built structures and touched lives across Kaduna.

“You see people in Kaduna, even some people who didn’t win primaries are saying, ‘Is El-Rufai… El-Rufai didn’t do that.’ Did El-Rufai get involved? Was he out there to get involved? No! It’s because he has influence, he has built structures, he has influenced the lives of many people. Forget the propaganda and the things people say outside. In Kaduna, El-Rufai touched the lives of average Kaduna citizens across the board. So, they are not going to forget him. He’s not going to suddenly become irrelevant, and that’s not possible because he’s incarcerated, no! If anything, his being put away has made people begin to appreciate him for who he really is.”

He also defended El-Rufai’s record as former DG of BPE, Minister of FCT and two-term Governor of Kaduna State, saying no evidence of illicit wealth has been found.

“We have seen the charges, like I said before. We have seen the charges. One-time DG BPE, one-time Minister of FCT, two-time Governor of Kaduna State—there are no mansions anywhere! If there were, they would have brought it. There are no billions of Naira stashed anywhere! If there were, they would have brought it!” he declared.