I Don’t Want To Be A Godfather – El-Rufai Declares

Former Governor of Kaduna State, Mallam Nasir El-Rufai, has expressed his preference not to be referred to as a godfather in Kaduna.

Naija News reports that El-Rufai made this clarification during a Capacity-Enhancement Workshop for Senior Government Officials in Borno State on Monday (today).

El-Rufai mentioned that he has only made five visits to Kaduna since stepping down from office nearly a year ago.

“I don’t want to be a godfather and that’s why I don’t interfere in what is happening in Kaduna, I want him (the governor) to learn and get the job by himself.

“What we lack is good leadership, the majors aspects of good quality of leadership. The leader should get good people to get the job done. Only God can do everything by himself, no matter how good you are as a leader, you can be as effective as people around you and that’s why the saying that no country get better than the quality of his civil services,” Daily Trust quoted the former governor as saying.

Naija News understands that this is the first time El-Rufai is making a public address two weeks after the apparent discord between he and his successor, Governor Uba Sani, started.

It could be recalled that during a town hall meeting held in Kaduna on March 30, 2024, Governor Sani disclosed that his administration had inherited a significant debt burden of $587 million, ₦85 billion, and 115 contractual liabilities from the previous administration led by El-Rufai.

Governor Sani expressed his concern over the impact of the exchange rate increase, stating that the state is now repaying almost three times the amount borrowed by the previous administration.

He highlighted that the substantial debt burden was significantly affecting the state’s federal allocation, with ₦7 billion being deducted from the ₦10 billion federal allocation for March to service the state’s debt.

Furthermore, Governor Sani emphasized that the state was left with only ₦3 billion, which he deemed insufficient to cover the monthly salary bill of ₦5.2 billion.

Despite facing criticism from one of El-Rufai’s sons, who accused him of incompetence, Governor Sani chose not to engage in public discourse on the matter.