Former governor of Kaduna State, Nasir El-Rufai, has claimed that with the pitiable state of the country, Nigeria is in its biggest trouble since 1914 as “urban bandits” have now taken over its leadership.
El-Rufai made the remarks while speaking at a public lecture themed “Weaponisation of Poverty as a Means of Underdevelopment: A Case Study of Nigeria”.
The lecture was held in Abuja to commemorate the 60th birthday of former Rivers State governor, Rotimi Amaechi.
According to El-Rufai, Nigerians have repeatedly elected incompetent leaders who lack the knowledge or capacity to govern effectively.
“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,” he stated.
“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. 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,” El-Rufai emphasised.
The former governor urged Nigerians to vote wisely for leaders with competence, capability, and genuine commitment to advance the nation.
“I think the key challenge for Nigerians in 2027 is really to look at those who are offering themselves for leadership and pick those who have the competence, capability, capacity, and commitment to move Nigeria forward,” he noted.
In April El-Rufai declared that Nigeria’s emerging opposition coalition could defeat President Bola Tinubu in the 2027 elections.
El-Rufai, who defected from the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) to the Social Democratic Party (SDP), had said President Tinubu could mobilise all the state governors but if Nigerians rejected him, it would be over.
