The Kaduna De-Initiatives And The Eternal Comedy Of Political Fidelity

In The History of the Peloponnesian War, Thucydides famously noticed that the sturdy do what they’ll, whereas the weak undergo what they need to. He omitted a 3rd class peculiar to political life: the home lieutenant who fortunately executes the cruelties of the sturdy, solely to stage a tearful, moralizing press convention the second the tyrant stops sharing the desk scraps.

Stumbling on-line throughout an op-ed revealed within the Daily Trust on October 1, 2026, titled Why we left El-Rufai to assist Gov. Uba Sani, co-authored by Hon. Mukthar Isa Hazo and Hon. Nasiru Abdullahi Maikano, one couldn’t assist however chuckle. It purports to be a manifesto of principled liberation. In reality, it reads like a tear-stained receipt from disenchanted political mercenaries whose long-term funding in a falling inventory lastly went bust.

The Technocrat Reading Machiavelli Backwards

The political tragedy of Malam Nasir El-Rufai is rooted in a comical misunderstanding of basic statecraft. He at all times projected himself as an invincible strategist, an administrative prodigy who studied Florentine energy dynamics with scientific precision. Yet, he learn Machiavelli backwards.

He fixated on the rise of Cesare Borgia, the ruthless Duke of Valentinois who used brutal enforcers to pacify conquered territory, solely to get rid of those self same enforcers when public resentment peaked. Borgia fell as a result of he assumed his private genius might override the institutional authority of the Papacy. El-Rufai equally operated beneath the phantasm that his mental posture exempted him from the foundational legal guidelines of political gravity.

His central failure was his weird interpretation of the well-known maxim that “the end justifies the means.” Like many Nigerian politicians, El-Rufai handled this phrase as an open license for unbridled hubris, household dynasty constructing, and tactical backstabbing.

In actual political philosophy, Machiavelli by no means advocated senseless cruelty or countless betrayal. The “end” was particularly outlined because the preservation, stability, and supreme survival of the state, which alone might excuse extraordinary and painful “means.” El-Rufai inverted this logic completely. He handled his private ambition and familial affect because the sovereign finish, utilizing state energy merely as an instrument to reward a narrowing inside circle.

Having performed pivotal roles in propelling Bola Ahmed Tinubu to the presidency and engineering the rise of Governor Uba Sani in Kaduna, El-Rufai assumed he had secured a lifetime appointment as final kingmaker. He forgot that Pope Julius II, the formidable “Warrior Pope,” didn’t safe Rome by honouring debt tokens from fallen conquerors. Julius II supplied superior safety, patronage, and political cowl to Borgia’s deserted generals. In fashionable Kaduna, Uba Sani stepped into the boots of Julius II, providing political sanctuary to El-Rufai’s stranded infantry.

Mercenaries Weeping Over Broken Contracts

The manifesto penned by Hazo and Maikano, talking for the “Kaduna De-Initiative,” presents a parade of displaced figures. They invoke names like Hon. Ja’afaru Sani, Dr. Shehu Usman Makarfi, Hon. Bashir Saidu, and Senator Abdu Kwari, framing them as principled statesmen pushed away by administrative neglect.

The authors boast that they took political bullets, constructed grassroots buildings, and defended El-Rufai when his political horizon appeared darkish. Their righteous indignation is laughable.

These signatories weren’t naive observers; they had been the keen, extremely compensated equipment of El-Rufai’s governance. For eight years, as legislative officers and cupboard members, they enthusiastically cheered each aggressive govt manoeuvre. They raised zero philosophical objections to autocratic governance as long as the patronage pipelines flowed into their respective native domains. Crying foul now as a result of the household circle narrowed is hypocritical. They didn’t expertise a sudden ethical awakening; they merely ran out of seats on the feast.

The Hilarity of Retrospective Adulthood

The essay reaches peak absurdity when quoting Bashir Saidu’s defiant query: “Are we not adults who can take our own political decisions?” Declaring maturity solely after the political pantry has been locked is an interesting show of delayed maturity. Where was this grownup independence once they had been executing harsh coverage turns and insulating El-Rufai from public accountability?

Their dramatic exit was not sparked by a noble protection of democratic values, however by a failed nomination battle. When El-Rufai backed his former rival, Isa Ashiru, within the African Democratic Congress (ADC) main over Ja’afaru Sani, the group expressed shock. They allege that backdoor offers had been made to order cupboard posts for El-Rufai’s household.

Their shock is astonishingly gullible. Did they actually anticipate a politician who spent his complete profession burning political alliances to show sentimental devotion towards them when a chilly calculation dictated in any other case? They complain of being handled as political property, but they spent practically a decade promoting their political labour to the very best bidder.

A Registry of Recycled Loyalties

To validate their retreat, the authors record a prolonged listing of former associates who fell out with El-Rufai through the years: Balarabe Lawal Abbas, Hadiza Bala Usman, Muhammad Sani Dattijo, Hadiza Sabuwa Balarabe, Prof. Adamu Danfulani, Dr. Daniel Manzo Maigari, Arc. Ibrahim Hamza, Thomas Gyang, Mukhtar Monrovia, Senator Sule Hunkuyi, Senator Sani Saleh, Hon. Abbas Tajuddeen, Hon. Garba Datti Babawo, Hon. Ahmed Munnir, Yusuf Ibrahim Zailani, Aminu Shagali, Yusuf Liman, Ben Kure, Dr. Abdulmalik Durunguwa, and Hadiza Muazu.

Far from proving El-Rufai’s distinctive malice, this lengthy roll name merely illustrates the transactional nature of Nigerian politics. Every individual on that record rode the El-Rufai automobile till the engine overheated or a greater trip pulled alongside them.

Framing this commonplace migration as a noble stroll towards freedom requires breathtaking psychological gymnastics. The signatories declare they’re becoming a member of Governor Uba Sani within the spirit of state reconciliation. Let us converse plainly: they’re becoming a member of Uba Sani as a result of he holds the state pen, controls the treasury, and supplies speedy cowl from political winter.

Trading One Leash for Another

The comedy of the Kaduna De-Initiative’s manifesto lies in its self-congratulatory claims of liberation. They proclaim that “Kaduna’s future is bigger than any individual politician” and boast of reclaiming their political future. Yet their main act of self-determination is handy their political buildings on to the sitting governor.

This will not be a narrative of political emancipation; it’s a switch of lease phrases. They traded an influential godfather whose nationwide footing slipped for an energetic governor with speedy state assets. They reward Uba Sani for extending a hand of reconciliation, ignoring the essential actuality that any sitting governor will gladly shelter defecting troops to dismantle a predecessor’s affect. The authors haven’t damaged their chains; they’ve merely chosen a extra snug leash.

The Unforgiving Mirror of Reality

Neither get together on this feud holds the ethical excessive floor. Malam Nasir El-Rufai sits in a political isolation of his personal making, discovering that authority rooted in concern dissolves the second energy shifts. He performed the prince with out realizing {that a} chief who discards his foot troopers will discover himself completely defenceless when the following Pope takes the stage.

Similarly, Hazo, Maikano, and their cadre of latest moralists can’t rewrite their previous via newspaper declarations. They had been prepared accomplices in an elite enterprise till that very same enterprise discarded them. Their manifesto within the Daily Trust will not be a historic declaration of freedom; it’s a public admission that in Nigerian politics, loyalty is merely a short lived lease, renewed solely so long as the checks proceed to clear.