By MUSTAPHA ATIKU RIBADU Sometimes the most cold-blooded demagogues, who treated other beings with cruelty and arrogance, become restless and
By MUSTAPHA ATIKU RIBADU
Sometimes the most cold-blooded demagogues, who treated other beings with cruelty and arrogance, become restless and bitter when they are forced to live under the same realities they once imposed on others.
That is the irony facing Malam Nasir Ahmed el-Rufai today. Nasir, an unconscionable power drunk demagogue who once held sway like an emperor and rode both Kaduna State and the Federal Capital Territory roughshod, is now tasting the bitter pills of the poisoned chalice he delivered to others under the intoxication of power.
But like others who swallowed his bitter pills with measured resilience, Nasir is behaving as if the world will come to an end when karma beckoned on him. In his desire to salvage his receding political capital, he descended too low becoming a willing attack dog and a self styled gadfly always attacking and casting aspersions on the personality and office of Nigeria’s National Security Adviser (NSA) Mallam Nuhu Ribadu.
He thought besmirching Ribadu by deliberately politicizing security matters will give him a mileage as he established a new reputation as one of Nigeria’s most rambunctious wailers-in-chief.
But in all these, Nasir conveniently forgot his past reputation not just as a controversial politician but the very embodiment of villainy and hypocrisy. Posterity will remember him as the devil incarnate whose tenure will be remembered less for service and more for the trail of pain his policies inflicted on toiling Nigerians.
From Abuja to Kaduna, his reigns were punctuated by a mix of punitive actions, toxic rhetoric, and a pattern of insensitivity that reduced governance to instrument of suppression and oppression of the common man and other vulnerable populations.
As Minister of the FCT from 2003 to 2007, Nasir ostensibly presented himself as a reformer determined to restore Abuja to its “original masterplan.” On the surface, the mission sounded noble, but the reality was harsh. His urban renewal policy translated into mass demolitions that rendered thousands homeless overnight.
Entire communities, particularly communities inhabited by poor citizens and other vulnerable groups, were completely bulldozed and reduced to rubbles under the guise of maintaining Abuja’s orderliness. From Gwagwalada to Lugbe and Mpape, families watched in horror as their houses, shops and means of livelihood crumbled into dust. Schools, churches and mosques were not spared. For many victims, there was little or no compensation.
But it became apparent that his skewed demolitions were only meant to hurt the downtrodden. While the minister targeted low-income dwellers with bulldozers, influential politicians and the wealthy were allowed to occupy green areas and build structures contrary to the “masterplan.” To them, the exercise exposed el-Rufai’s double standards, the poor were robbed, while the rich were pampered.
Even today, the scars of his locus years in Abuja remain visible. Displaced families never recovered, and many still recount how children were forced out of schools, livelihoods destroyed, and communities scattered because one man wielded state power with incorrigible impunity and cruelty.
When Nasir assumed power as Governor of Kaduna State in 2015, hopes were high that he might temper his rigid style with compassion. Instead, he doubled down on his characteristic authoritarian streak. His years as governor are often described as some of the most polarising in the history of the state.
One of his most infamous actions was the mass dismissal of workers across various sectors. At one point, over 20,000 primary school teachers were sacked after they allegedly failed competency tests. While Nasir defended the policy as an attempt to improve educational standards, critics saw it as callous and poorly executed. Many of the affected teachers had served the state for decades and were suddenly left without jobs or pensions.
Beyond teachers, he dismissed thousands of civil servants, often with little or no recourse to fair hearing. Labour unions accused him of reducing governance to a reign of terror on workers. Protests became commonplace, yet the governor remained unmoved. For many families in Kaduna, the sudden loss of income plunged them into poverty.
Just as he did in Abuja, Nasir brought the bulldozer culture to Kaduna. Residential houses, markets and community structures were demolished in the name of “urban renewal.” While the projects gave the state a facelift, they also displaced thousands who received little to no compensation.
Nasir’s brazen injustice without recourse to the laws of the land represents the most insensitive and wicked form of governance in the history of both FCT and Kaduna State. In a state already grappling with ethno-religious tensions and widespread poverty, the destruction of properties deepened resentment against his government.
Another hallmark of his tenure was the suppression of dissent. Trade unions, student associations and community groups who challenged his odious policies are usually crushed with maximum force, using the instruments of state coercion . Strikes were met with threats, protests dispersed with force, and opposition voices branded as enemies of progress.
The governor was also known for his sharp tongue and unrestrained rhetoric. He often spoke in ways that inflamed rather than calmed tensions. For many, his utterances reflected arrogance, intolerance, and a lack of empathy.
Kaduna under Nasir was one of the states worst hit by banditry, kidnappings and communal violence. Instead of inspiring confidence, his approach often came across as dismissive. At one point, he openly declared that his government had paid bandits to stop attacks but they reneged on the agreement. Such statements, apparently emboldened criminals and eroded public trust.
In Southern Kaduna, where ethno-religious violence persisted, many accused him of bias and insensitivity. His handling of crises often deepened mistrust among communities. To some residents, Nasir was more interested in rhetoric than in practical solutions that could save lives.
Perhaps one of his enduring legacies is his mastery of double-speak. He often projected himself as a progressive, technocratic leader, yet his actions betrayed a different reality.
He spoke of fairness but acted with bias. He preached reform but governed with intolerance and impunity. He demanded accountability from others but quivered when subjected to scrutiny himself.
Nasir’s impromptu and sudden fall from the zenith of power to the nadir of inconsequentiality seemed to have a monumental and profound effect on his psyche and even his ability to reason well. He has for a long time displayed the attitude of man on the verge of mental breakdown. The man is simply in a state of trance and has already gone berserk. Perhaps his new state of mind may be responsible for his strange and unwholesome behavior which sooner or later will land him into serious trouble.
But I’m not surprised at his sudden and inexorable descent to infamy. Demagogues most often fall disgracefully when they least expected as nemesis and their past atrocities always catch up with them.
Nasir who is harpooned by his sordid and evil reign is regurgitating his past atrocities and heaping them on others. His recent awkward and unsubstantiated statement accusing the federal government of extending handouts to bandits is not only a lie but mirrors how Nasir extended patronage to outlaws during his inglorious days in power.
While he failed to come up with evidence to substantiate his phantom and phantasmagoric delusions against the federal government, it is on record that Nasir has confessed to extending olive branch to outlaws during his ruinous reign in a viral interview on Channels TV. That is why Nigerian will continue to receive his jejune and infantile lies against the federal government with a pinch of salt.
Nasir has also in a fit of deception that has become the hallmark of his discredited regime perfected and embellished a well choreographed lie to enhance a pro masses outlook. Through a maze of lies and deception, he sold a dummy to the good people of Kaduna to the effect hat he will enlist his child in a public school. To succeed in the grand deception, Nasir organized a media razzmatazz when he took one of his children to a public school in a grandeur hype to project a populist and pro masses posture. But in a valiant investigative story by Daily Trust, Nasir’s subterfuge and ungodly lie was denuded to the consternation and chagrin of the masses. The paper called the bluff of Nasir by telling the people that the governor just played with their intelligence but never enlisted his child in public school.
Governance is ultimately judged not by rambunctious speeches but by its impact on the people. In both Abuja and Kaduna, the human cost of Nasir’s policies was immense. Homelessness, job losses, poverty and insecurity became defining features of his reigns.
Teachers left jobless, pensioners unpaid, traders displaced, communities demolished — these are the legacies that continue to haunt his name. For many ordinary Nigerians, Nasir will be remembered not as a reformer but as a man who wielded state power without compassion.
Now out of office, Nasir is facing his own share of political battles. Once touted as a potential presidential contender, he has seen his fortunes decline. His ministerial nomination was rejected by the Senate in 2023, partly due to security reports about his divisive politics. Today, he cuts the figure of a man abandoned by the same political structures he once dominated with iron fists.
From the rubble of Abuja demolitions to the tears of sacked Kaduna workers, from the grief of Southern Kaduna victims to the despair of impoverished pensioners, Nasir’s legacy is written in the suffering of the people.
Finally I want to sympathize with the embattled former governor over his monumental setback in the failure to secure a place in President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s cabinet. If Nasir has gotten a portfolio, I’m quite sure he will be in the forefront of defending this administration just like he defended Buhari’s government despite its many flaws. But as a Muslim, I had expected Nasir to accept his destiny in good faith and equanimity not mocking himself through puerile and unsubstantiated attacks.
His resort to attack Mallam Nuhu Ribadu who has even extended an olive branch to him with a visit with vile and unprecedented angst will do little to help him from his self imposed crisis.
Ribadu is the organizing secretary of APC in Adamawa State.
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