A chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and member of the House of Representatives, Bello El-Rufai, has distanced himself from the outburst of his brother Bashir El-Rufai, against Senator Uba Sani, successor of their father as Governor of Kaduna State.
Addressing a town hall meeting in Kaduna oat the weekend, Governor Sani had revealed that his administration inherited $587 million, N85 billion, and 115 contractual liabilities from the El-Rufai administration.
He, however, said the situation has not stopped his administration from meeting its contractual obligations.
But Bashir, who frowned at the disclosure, attacked the governor via a tweet on X, saying that the governor was only trying to cover his administration’s incompetence.
Bashir tweeted: “These guys have realised that they are wholly incompetent and the only way to mask the nonsense is to deflect.
“From a Governor who is always sleeping in Abuja to a litany of incompetent aides who were only rewarded for foolish political reasons.”
However, Bashir’s brother, Bello, in a tweet, distanced himself from his outburst and reiterated his loyalty to the governor.
Bello, who represents Kaduna North Federal Constituency in the House of Representatives, said: “It’s a known thing in politics that some people won’t rest unless there are fights between one another. I am in the middle, and I could even be meeting with the governor tonight in thirty minutes.
“Two weeks ago, I had to call my brother and tell him to drop a tweet. I did that today, but he refused. He is over 30 years old. People should stop confusing our handles.
“I am loyal to Governor Uba Sanni, and I will not criticize him publicly. No one will make me do that. He mentored me, gave me my first government job, and believed in my election. This too shall pass. The rural development being done in Kaduna State is impressive.
“Nigeria, as a whole, not just Kaduna, is facing financial constraints. As leaders, we are all elected to do what we can with what we have and improve it. I honestly do not see what the fuss is about.”
He added: “The governor is the leader of the state, and for the sake of transparency, even though Mallam as the outgoing governor put it in his outgoing speech how much money he is leaving in the state, it is within the governor’s—let me take that back—it is the duty, of course, for the sake of transparency, to let the citizens of the state know the financial condition.
“And now, let me clarify, social media attacks will never shake my boss, Governor Uba Sani. So, a few attacks from people for obvious reasons coming at him is not the reason he did what he did.”