Former Senator Shehu Sani has taken a swipe at ex-Kaduna State governor, Nasir El-Rufai, over his recent allegation that the current administration in the state paid N1 billion to bandits.
In a strongly worded statement issued on Sunday, the former lawmaker and human rights activist dismissed El-Rufai’s claim as “absolute rubbish,” arguing that the former governor lacks the moral standing to accuse the Uba Sani administration of colluding with terrorists.
According to Senator Sani, El-Rufai’s eight-year tenure was characterised by policies and actions that emboldened criminal elements rather than confronted them.
“The claim by the former Kaduna State governor that the present government paid N1 billion to bandits is absolute rubbish from a man who entrenched the culture of appeasement to terrorists during his tenure,” Sani said.
He added that bandits operated as “de facto stakeholders” under El-Rufai’s government, recalling that the former governor openly admitted to using “conditional cash transfers” as part of his strategy. “He even jailed Luka Biniyat of Vanguard at the time for exposing the deal,” Sani noted.
Highlighting a series of deadly attacks that occurred during El-Rufai’s administration, Sani said the insecurity witnessed then was far worse than the narrative the former governor now attempts to paint.
“El-Rufai should not claim there was security and peace under his watch when the Kaduna–Abuja train was attacked, with passengers kidnapped and killed,” he said.
He went on to list other major incidents:
The abduction and killing of Greenfield University students;
The attack on the Federal College of Forestry Mechanisation;
The kidnap and killing of students at Bethel Baptist High School, Kujama;
Attacks on the Nigerian Defence Academy, Airport Quarters, Gidan Waya College of Education, and Kaduna Polytechnic.
“Under El-Rufai’s leadership, southern and central Kaduna became slaughterhouses where bandits operated with impunity. At one point, even Kaduna Airport had to be shut down,” Sani added.
He also recalled that El-Rufai withdrew his own son from Malali Primary School due to insecurity, yet now “concocts lies for political reasons.”
“If El-Rufai has any evidence—videos, images, anything—showing the current government paying cash to bandits, he should present it to the public,” Sani said.
According to the former senator, El-Rufai’s sudden outburst stems from “envy” over Governor Uba Sani’s growing success in uniting Kaduna’s Christian South and Muslim North—a unity he alleges El-Rufai failed to foster.
“El-Rufai is a certified enabler of persecution. His reign was marked by ethnic and religious discrimination, division, and terror. His eight years symbolised torment,” Sani declared.
While acknowledging that Kaduna, like many northern states, still faces serious security challenges, Sani argued that the current administration has made significant progress.
“Governor Uba Sani has achieved much in bridging religious divides and dismantling the infrastructure of banditry left behind by his predecessor,” he said.
He concluded by urging Nigerians to disregard El-Rufai’s claims: “No sensible, rational, or responsible person, aware of our recent history, will give credence to the habitual falsehoods of a man in his mid-60s.”
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