Former Kaduna State Governor, Nasir El-Rufai, has declared that Nigeria is in deep crisis because what he described as “urban bandits” have taken over the reins of leadership.
Speaking on Saturday in Abuja at a public lecture themed “Weaponisation of Poverty as a Means of Underdevelopment: A Case Study of Nigeria,” El-Rufai lamented the repeated cycle of electing unqualified individuals into power. The lecture was held to mark the 60th birthday of former Rivers State Governor, Rotimi Amaechi.
“Nigeria is in its biggest trouble since 1914, and that is why we are together working and conspiring to build a coalition to take Nigeria back on track because it is off track,” El-Rufai declared.
He expressed frustration over what he sees as a systemic failure, where people who lack vision and competence continue to ascend to power.
“It has turned to this level because we have allowed bandits, not the ones in the bushes, but the ones in the urban area, called the urban bandits, to take over leadership,” he said.
El-Rufai did not hold back in his critique of Nigeria’s political trajectory, stating that leadership failure is at the heart of the nation’s woes.
“I believe that the problem that we have is that we just get incompetent people, and we hand over leadership to them. Most of them don’t really know what to do. They just know how to grab power but don’t know what to do with it,” he added.
Calling for urgent reform and responsible civic action, El-Rufai urged Nigerians to vote only for individuals with genuine competence and integrity.
He emphasized that the country’s recovery depends on electing leaders who possess the “competence, capability, capacity and commitment” to steer Nigeria in the right direction.
Is Nasir El-Rufai just waking up from sleep or he was pretending to be asleep? A religious bigot, who defended Buhari’s certificate forgery issue and bad leadership, is maybe just waking up from sleep. Is it not the same El-Rufai who openly confirmed their bringing of machineries to fight in case Buhari loses the elections? Is it not the same El-Rufai that threatened that foreign observers who came to observe elections will go back in body bags if they don’t compromise? He is one of the major problems of this country so people should be careful of him. However, I am fully in support of the coalition but with credible people only.