Nasir El-Rufai: A Comprehensive Analysis of his Religious Marginalization, Bigotry and Role in Nigeria’s bedeviling Insecurity Crisis

By Christopher Wenegeme

The political career of Nasir Ahmed El-Rufai, former governor of Kaduna State and notorious Nigerian politician, has become emblematic of the deepening religious divisions and systemic marginalization that plague Nigeria’s democracy. This analysis will thoroughly examine El-Rufai’s documented history of religious discrimination against Christian communities in Kaduna State and beyond, his role in exacerbating Nigeria’s security challenges, and the lasting consequences of his policies on national unity.

El-Rufai’s Admission of Religious Discrimination, the Revealing Video Evidence is one that speaks volumes and stands as one of the most brazen public admissions of religious bigotry by a Nigerian political leader, Nasir El-Rufai was captured on video explaining his deliberate marginalization of Christian communities in Kaduna State to a group of Muslim clerics. The footage shows the former governor detailing his political calculations to systematically exclude Christians from meaningful participation in governance. El-Rufai shamelessly admitted “he did his calculation, and he knew he could win the election without giving them (Christians) the deputy governorship ticket, ” El-Rufai stated matter-of-factly, referring to Christian populations in Kaduna State. He further elaborated even bragging, “Those that are not Muslims don’t vote for our party.” “So, why should I give them the deputy position?”

The “Reward System” for Political Loyalty he instituted in Kaduna state is evident by El-Rufai’s comments revealing a patronage system based on religious affiliation rather than merit or equal representation as indigenes of the state. Resource Allocation was strictly by Faith, He openly admitted to directing more development resources to Muslim-dominated areas like Kubau because they voted for his party, while reducing allocations to Christian-majority areas like Jaba that didn’t support him politically, this my friends is the same foamy-mouth narcissist who wants to preach democracy to Nigerians via his latest soap boxcreation “ADC party.”
Imagine his Long-term Exclusion Plans in Kaduna state and Perhaps most alarmingly, El-Rufai outlined a generational strategy to entrench Muslim political dominance, stating, “After Uba Sani finishes his tenure and gets re-elected again, that’ll be sixteen years. Then we’ll have another tenure which will make it 24 years. “That is when everyone will understand and say ‘Okay, we understand, we know our status.’” This is a man who can today shamelessly parade himself as a democrat, before Nigerians and before the very Christians he so dis-respectedly disadvantaged due to his dark and raw bigotry. Imagine how sick the same El-Rufiai is to have the effrontry to turn around and accuse Peter Obi publicly of Bigotry.

He committed all these atrocities with such impunity while thumbing his nose at the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), Sadly the only push back if any he got was the Catholic Diocesan Priests Association in Kaduna, Zaria and Kafanchan issuing a response, labeling El-Rufai’s comments as “A divisive, bigoted, hateful and completely unstatesmanlike declaration of Islamic political supremacism in Kaduna State and Nigeria.”
There has never been a public apology, an attempt to seat down with the members of the communities he abused and hurt, nor has there been any public explanation for the many evil policies of his administration. Looking back, one can not help but wonder why such evil weapons of his administration namely, uneven distribution of state resources, the wanton killings and kidnappings that afflicted the Christian dominated areas and totally shutting them out of the state’s commonwealth was necessary? It does not take a genius to figure out how evil and sick the bigot is.

To fully grasp and digest the impact of El-Rufai’s policies, one must understand Kaduna’s volatile religious history rooted on the “Mecca” and “Jerusalem” Divide. For most people familiar with Kaduna State, you must know Kaduna State has long been divided along religious lines, thereby sectioning the state as follows: Northern Zone (“Mecca”) Predominantly inhabited by Hausa-Fulani Muslim population. Then the Southern Zone (“Jerusalem”) is home to about 30 minority non-Muslim tribes (predominantly Christian population) and for the record this is the area where the bulk of the Kaduna state mayhem was visited on. This dastardly acts were done to the poor Christian indigenes with the blessing of the “foamy mouth little “monster” named Nasir Ahmed El_Rufai. As if doing such harm to another human beings was not bad enough, he went about gloating, bragging and taking credit for his sick actions.

Thanks to myopic leaders like El-Rufai his state suffered recurrent religious violence which continues till this very day. Since 1980 approximately 20,000 lives have been lost to religious conflicts while the state leaders look the other way, to them Christian lives must be very expendable. The introduction of Sharia law by Governor Mohammed Makarfi in the year 2000 only intensified tensions, leading to attacks that killed over 1,295 people mostly harmless Christians whose only crimes was being Christians and being born in Kaduna State. It is an open secret the world over Southern Kaduna Christians had historically been excluded from political leadership, with Hausa-Fulani Muslims controlling state political and economic structures long before El-Rufai’s tenure but it was on a hush-hush until the coming of the “Foamy Mouth, blood-thirsty Monster’ whose goal was to institutionalize such disgusting and dastardly practices.

The Muslim-Muslim Ticket Strategy adopted by El-Rufai attempted to pioneer and institutionalized the controversial Muslim-Muslim ticket in Kaduna State, This started with the 2019 Election he ran with Dr. Hadiza Balarabe as deputy governor, making her the first elected female deputy governor in northern Nigeria, but more significantly it started the exclusion of Christians from executive power in Kaduna State till this day. After succeeding at state level this ‘ “evil midget“ set his eyes on the Federal Level and was one of the staunchest architect of 2023 elections which he openly boasted about exporting this model to national politics, contributing to the Muslim-Muslim presidential ticket of Bola Tinubu and Kashim Shettima.

Political Appointments under El-Rufai for non Muslims was zero and Christians were largely relegated to “menial jobs in government” while key positions went to Muslims alone. Ministerial Exclusions was a very brazing and in your face act, even though the Southern Kaduna leaders consistently protested their exclusion from significant federal appointments originating from the state however true to form it fell on deaf ears, especially when the other person they were protesting to is another religious bigot, one that God just ridded the world of in the person of the late President Mohammadu Buhari. One can not help but wonder how this very wicked individuals whose whole stitch is waking up and causing humans pains just because they chose to worship differently, how they look themselves in the mirror and what they see?

Imagine this, while El-Rufai’s urban renewal projects in Kaduna, Kafanchan and Zaria were touted as transformative infrastructure investments, Christian communities alleged these programs disproportionately affected their neighborhoods and places of worship and most of those projects that went south were located around Kafanchan where there is a fairly large population of Hausa-Fulani brought about by the imposition of a Fulani Emir on the easy going and friendly Christian indigenes. (A story for another day).

Since the beginning of time, we all grew up in Nigeria knowing our Fulani neighbors as friendly and amiable, but with President Mohammadu Buhari and El-Rufai’s coming to power, they brought with them divisions along religious lines by demonizing Christians for nothing but cheap political gains, thereby causing the dramatic escalation in violence across Kaduna State and Nigeria at large. It is sad that this same individuals can go about talking nonsense instead of taking time to atone, repent, beg for forgiveness from all the many thousands of families whom they caused to loose so much by way of lives, properties and livelihood. This are things 99% of the victims will never get back or recover from. “Allah ya Isaa” on behalf of every last one of these faceless and nameless victims of yours.

How can one forget the clear admission to facilitating the arming of Fulani Militia “Fulani herdsmen” during the Goodluck Jonathan administration, purely for dis-stabilization of the government in the event Mohammadu Buhari looses the election. Does this sound like a man or men who have the love of their country at heart? This is how Nigeria is held back by thugs in politics and truth is if it were in any sane society, this “tyrant” would have been long held to account to pay for these “Crimes Against Humanity.” This is where we should pause and ask ourselves why is Nnamdi Kanu held in prison and Nasir El-Rufai walking as a free man on streets? A man with the blood of so many on his head.

The so called escalated farmer-herder conflicts that have claimed thousands of lives and contributed to the proliferation of small arms in Nigeria’s Middle Belt and all over the forests of Nigeria, we all know is the creation of El-Rufai and his cohorts all targeted “Violence Against Christian Communities” orchestrated and backed by the same evil doer. During El-Rufai’s eight years in office, eleven priests were kidnapped in Kaduna State within 18 months, with three murdered and two remaining missing till this very day. Countless Christian communities experienced raids, arson attacks, and mass killings with alleged government inaction all done with El-Rufai”s evil look away nod, while paying lip service to the victims. In other cases blaming the victims and saying they brought the violence on them self and that attacks are all retaliatory attack by the Fulani’s on the defenseless natives and indigenes.

The “Takiyya” Doctrine in Islam is what El-Rufai has been said to have admitted to practicing, “Takiyya” is an Islamic concept permitting deception under situations, but it is clear to all that this “little Foamy mouth Christian-Hatting monster” did all of the evil he did to his fellow humans only to satisfy his selfish midgetty-ego, pure-hate and also for cheap political gains . What a pathetic and myopic creature?

This write up will not be complete without examining El-Rufai’s political career starting from about 1999. He is said to have gotten his start with his early association with Olusegun Obasanjo’s administration by way of Alhaji Atiku Abubakar (1999-2007) When PDP did not let him have his way within the party he later turned an opposition to the Late President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua (2007-2010) – From there he joined forces with PMB and PBAT and played a role in forming the All Progressives Congress (APC) but because of his divisive, combative and unruly nature he was dumped and denied a ministerial or any cabinet position in the BAT cabinet, which recently led to his move to the Social Democratic Party (SDP). Just a few weeks back he quit SDP to move on to ADC. Watch out ADC, El-Rufai is a human-cancer he brings with him debilitation, pain and death where ever he goes.

All the above in mind, safe to say Nasir El-Rufai’s tenure as Kaduna governor represents a clear and unambiguous case study in how religious marginalization can become institutionalized within a democratic framework by certain whorpped minded individuals if left unchecked. Simply put, his policies have contributed and deepened Nigeria’s religious divides, Contributed significantly to the current security crisis and created a dangerous road map for political exclusion that threaten national cohesion. El-Rufai’s acts of deliberate marginalization has damaged decades of Christian-Muslim peaceful coexistence in Kaduna and beyond, the only way forward is for Nigerians to call out such perpetrators and shame them publicly. The documented evidence of his public admissions on tape and policies presents a sobering challenge for Nigerian democracy to say the least, one that demands accountability, constitutional safeguards against religious discrimination where possible, and a recommitment to the secular foundations of the Nigerian State.

As Nigeria continues to grapple with these challenges, the El-Rufai example serves as both a warning and an opportunity to confront the politics of religious division before they become further entrenched in the nation’s political culture. By so doing, El-Rufai MUST be asked to account for this atrocities at every stop in any public outing in Nigeria. Above all The normalization of Muslim-Muslim tickets at state and federal levels should be shunned and replaced with qualification, meritocracy and preparedness for the office. The press can not afford to look the other way by not demanding full accountability for this level of unimaginable impunity and bigotry. Nasir El-Rufai should be asked to explain what part of his past actions tally with the word “DEMOCRACY.”

Denver, Colorado USA
July 18th, 2025

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