Kaduna State Governor Uba Sani has insisted that he still respects his predecessor, Nasir El-Rufai, despite their political differences, adding that he will not make public the private steps he has taken to support him.
Speaking on Trust TV’s Daily Politics, Sani said he considered it wrong to publicise everything he had done for the former governor. He was responding to questions about his silence over El-Rufai’s detention and whether he feared his political influence ahead of the 2027 elections.
“As a matter of respect, many things I’ve done to show my respect for him, my regard for him, I don’t think I should come out and say it. Because when you respect someone, you don’t come out to say certain things,” Sani said.
El-Rufai has been held by the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) since February 18, 2026, with efforts to secure his bail unsuccessful.
Sani also rejected a reported suggestion that El-Rufai should remain in detention until after the next general election, saying the person who made the comment “was speaking for himself. He’s not speaking for me”.
The governor maintained that he had never spoken ill of El-Rufai and would not start now.
“This is who I am. When I hold a person in high regard, everything good I have said about him, I stand by it. When I was in the Senate, I said a lot of good things about my leaders, and I stand by them,” he said.
Sani and El-Rufai’s relationship deteriorated after the former succeeded him in 2023, amid disagreements over inherited debts, investigations by the Kaduna State House of Assembly and their political positions. El-Rufai later left the APC for the opposition African Democratic Congress in November 2025, while Sani remained in the APC.
The ICPC is investigating El-Rufai over alleged financial offences. In one case, the commission accused him, a former aide and five companies of alleged corruption and money laundering involving an ₦8.68 billion CCTV surveillance contract in Kaduna metropolis. The allegations have yet to be determined by the courts. El-Rufai has challenged aspects of his detention and denied wrongdoing.
