‘Bandits’ have hijacked Nigeria’s leadership, says El-Rufai

Former Kaduna State Governor, Nasir El-Rufai, has raised concerns about the country’s political direction, stating that Nigeria’s leadership has been overtaken by what he termed “urban bandits.”

Speaking in Abuja on Saturday during a lecture commemorating the 60th birthday of former Rivers State Governor Rotimi Amaechi, themed “Weaponization of Poverty in Nigeria,” El-Rufai described the nation’s current situation as dire.

“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 said.

El-Rufai criticized the quality of leadership, blaming the country’s challenges on the emergence of incompetent individuals in positions of power.

“It has turned to this level because we have allowed bandits, not the ones in the bushes but the ones in the urban areas called the urban bandits to take over leadership,” he said.

“I believe that the problem that we have, which I think (former) Governor Babangida referred to, 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 called on Nigerians to become more active in shaping the country’s future by electing leaders who possess the necessary “competence, capability, capacity and commitment” to drive meaningful progress.