“I Have Never Spoken Bad About El-Rufai And Will Never” — Gov Uba Sani Breaks Silence On Rift With Predecessor

Kaduna State Governor, Malam Uba Sani, has broken his silence on his relationship with his predecessor, Nasir El-Rufai, saying he has no problem with him and will never speak ill of him.

Uba Sani stated this during an interview on Trust TV’s Daily Politics on Tuesday and Monitored by Northern Nigeria Hub, while responding to a question on whether he fears El-Rufai’s ghost in the 2027 election.

Interviewer: “…since you’ve mentioned Nasir El-Rufai, the governor that handed over to you, do you fear his ghost in this election?”

Gov Uba Sani: “Honestly speaking, I have no problem with him, if you listen to me carefully. I have never spoken anything bad about him. And I will never speak anything bad about him.”

The governor said by his nature, he consults all former governors of the state, from El-Rufai to Namadi Sambo, Ramalan Yero and others.

“By my nature, all the people that were former governors, governors from Malam Nasir El-Rufai to Namadi Sambo, to Ramalan Yero… if you ask them, I still consult them. Even last week, I consulted Malam in some particular roads I went to construct. Even the one, and let me even surprise you, the road I constructed from Soba to Dinya is part of my consultation. And Malam advised me and said that road is one road,” he said.

When the interviewer pressed him on his silence over El-Rufai’s continued detention since February and a comment by one of his party supporter senator Suleiman Usman Hunkuyi “Please keep him where he is until after the election,” Uba Sani distanced himself from the statement.

“See, let me tell you, the person that made that statement was speaking for himself. He is not speaking for me,” he said.

He stressed that he has tremendous respect for El-Rufai and even collected the design of the Government House from him.

“And for me, that is the reason why I always tell people, I have tremendous respect for Governor El-Rufai, just like I have tremendous respect for Governor Namadi Sambo, Ramalan Yero… One time I was about to build my, what do you call it, bank home also. I have to go and get the design from Malam. I said, ‘Look, you are the one who designed the government house. Do you still have that design?’ He said yes. I said, ‘Please could you give it to me?’ So, he gave it to me, and I did it. Malam only two weeks ago, he also sent me some important roads that he felt we can tidy them up,” Uba Sani said.

On carrying former governors along, he said:

“When you are a governor, you don’t have monopoly of wisdom. The way to succeed is to be humble, to listen to people who advise you. Because at the end of the day, if I don’t tell you, who is taking the credit? Is me.”

When asked if he was working behind the scenes to get El-Rufai out of his court cases, Uba Sani said he is a very discreet person who shows respect without making noise.

“People may not understand certain things, like I told you, I am that kind of person, people know me, I am a very discrete person. And as a matter of respect, many things are done to show my respect for him. My regard for him, I don’t think I should come out and say it. Because when you respect someone, you don’t come out to say certain things. And that’s the reason why I have never said anything against him. And I will never,” he said.

“And I think it’s better because once I became the governor, I made it clear to everyone: as a governor, you will have challenges. So if everyone turned back to say he will be governor without challenge, that means you’re not ready to walk. So for me, I don’t have anything against anybody,” he added.

He concluded:

“I can tell you today, everything I’ve said about him, honestly speaking, I have not gone back to repute it. Have you ever seen me repute anything? No. This is who I am.”