{"id":96556,"date":"2025-12-11T09:45:44","date_gmt":"2025-12-11T09:45:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/?p=96556"},"modified":"2025-12-11T09:45:44","modified_gmt":"2025-12-11T09:45:44","slug":"el-rufais-hypocrisy-manipulation-and-the-politics-of-manufactured-northern-victimhood","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/?p=96556","title":{"rendered":"El-Rufai\u2019s hypocrisy, manipulation and the politics of manufactured northern victimhood"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Sa’adiyyah Adebisi Hassan<\/strong><\/p>\n

Former Kaduna governor Nasir El-Rufai is at it again weaponizing religion, inflaming northern emotions, and inventing conspiracies just because he is no longer the one sitting close to the corridors of power.<\/p>\n

He shared Bello Doka\u2019s article alleging that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu is \u201cwaging a quiet war against the Muslim North.\u201d Coming from a man whose politics has been built on religious division, the propaganda is painfully predictable.<\/p>\n

But let us tell ourselves the truth:
\nPolitics of religion is dead. Competence has taken center stage. The North will not be dragged backwards by one man\u2019s bitterness.<\/p>\n

El-Rufai\u2019s Problem Is Not the North His problem is that Tinubu is not using him<\/p>\n

This sudden defence of \u201cMuslim North\u201d did not exist during Buhari\u2019s government. Where was this righteous energy when Buhari filled every important office with northern Muslims?<\/p>\n

Chief of Army Staff \u2013 Muslim, North
\nChief of Air Staff \u2013 Muslim, North
\nDefense Minister \u2013 Muslim, North<\/p>\n

What happened?
\nBanditry exploded
\nKaduna burned
\nZamfara collapsed
\nKatsina was bleeding
\nFarms became graveyards
\nSchools were turned to kidnap markets<\/p>\n

So let\u2019s ask El-Rufai:<\/p>\n

If Muslim appointments automatically bring security, why did your own Kaduna become the epicenter of killings under a Muslim – Muslim government?<\/p>\n

The hypocrisy is loud<\/p>\n

When Buhari filled Nigeria with northerners, El-Rufai said: \u201cAppointments should be based on competence.\u201d<\/p>\n

Today Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu balances appointments and suddenly competence no longer matters, only religion matters?<\/p>\n

Where did this sudden \u201clove\u201d for northern Muslims come from?<\/p>\n

El-Rufai, the same man who said Kaduna South complaints against Muslim – Muslim ticket were childish, is now crying religion?<\/p>\n

The hypocrisy is disgusting.<\/p>\n

The North must stop allowing political manipulators to play savior<\/p>\n

The same El-Rufai who silenced clergy in Kaduna is now pretending to defend Islam? The same man who divided Kaduna by religion for 8 years now wants to preach religious fairness?<\/p>\n

Nigeria knows him, Kaduna knows him, history knows him.<\/p>\n

Whenever Nigeria begins to unite, El-Rufai appears with matches and kerosene.<\/p>\n

Religion is his political oxygen.
\nDivision is his comfort zone.
\nChaos is his political career.<\/p>\n

Tinubu owes you competence, not sectarian appointments<\/p>\n

The entire idea that \u201cNorthern Muslims are being removed\u201d collapses when placed beside reality:<\/p>\n

Middle Belt finally has representation<\/p>\n

Northerners are still in key offices<\/p>\n

Christian Northerners are finally considered human beings<\/p>\n

Appointments are no longer a religious monopoly<\/p>\n

Is that war? Or sanity?<\/p>\n

A northerner is not defined by religion<\/p>\n

El-Rufai\u2019s logic is clear: If you are not a Muslim, even if you are from Northern Nigeria, you don\u2019t belong.<\/p>\n

So Plateau, Benue, Southern Kaduna and Taraba should become foreign countries?<\/p>\n

This is exactly why Middle Belt shunned northern politics under Buhari.<\/p>\n

Tinubu is correcting decades of marginalisation inside the North itself.<\/p>\n

Tinubu is doing what El-Rufai never had the courage to do<\/p>\n

Balancing the system
\nUniting the country
\nReducing ethnic monopoly
\nRestraining religious dominance<\/p>\n

And that is what truly frightens him.<\/p>\n

Nigerians are tired of religious merchants<\/p>\n

We want roads
\nWe want electricity
\nWe want better security
\nWe want working economy
\nWe want competent appointees<\/p>\n

Not loud emotional blackmail from political middlemen searching for relevance.<\/p>\n

If Northern Muslims like Buratai, Sadiq, Monguno, Badaru and others could not secure Nigeria when they controlled everything, then the problem is not religion.<\/p>\n

The problem is that incompetent people were recycled because they were Northerners and Muslims, not because they could deliver.<\/p>\n

Tinubu is ending that rubbish.<\/p>\n

El-Rufai, the game is over<\/p>\n

The era of religious extortion is gone
\nThe North is wiser
\nNigeria is tired
\nAnd the Muslim North you are trying to provoke has suffered enough under the same system you defended for 8 years.<\/p>\n

If you have a presidential candidate for 2027, bring him.
\nTell Nigerians his achievements
\nTell us what he did
\nTell us where he succeeded<\/p>\n

But don\u2019t hide behind Islam. We are not buying that trick again.<\/p>\n

Nigeria is moving forward.
\nWith or without the tears of expired politicians.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Sa’adiyyah Adebisi Hassan Former Kaduna governor Nasir El-Rufai is at it again weaponizing religion, inflaming northern emotions, and inventing conspiracies just because he is no longer the one sitting close to the corridors of power. He shared Bello Doka\u2019s article alleging that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu is \u201cwaging a quiet war against the Muslim […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":96555,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5782,8],"tags":[25,7662,249,828,56],"class_list":["post-96556","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-opinion","category-politics","tag-el-rufai","tag-hypocrisy","tag-nigeria","tag-north","tag-tinubu"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/96556","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=96556"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/96556\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/96555"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=96556"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=96556"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=96556"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}