ELRUFAI AND THE EMBODIMENT OF EMOTION IN THE INJURY OF INJUSTICE

ELRUFAI AND THE EMBODIMENT OF EMOTION IN THE INJURY OF INJUSTICE

By Bala Ibrahim

It is no longer news that the mother of Mallam Nasir El-Rufai is dead. She died last week, in Cairo, the capital of Egypt, after an illness associated with old age. According to family sources, Hajiya Umma El-Rufai, passed away on March 27, 2026, at approximately 100 years old. She died following a long illness and age-related health challenges. She is survived by children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren, with the most prominent being Mallam Nasir El-Rufai, who was everything in Nigeria but the President. Yes, as a technocrat or technical expert, El-Rufai is a household name that held significant positions of power in government, climbing steadily from the Bureau of Public Enterprises, BPE, where he took charge of the implementation of the Nigerian government’s privatisation and commercialisation policies, to a cabinet member in charge of the FCT, and lately, as a two term elected Governor of Kaduna state.

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Take it or leave it, El-Rufai played an unparalleled role in the arrival of the Tinubu administration to power. But the dicey nature of politics in Nigeria, which is characterized by deceit, betrayal and profound unpredictability, largely driven by the do or die pursuit of power, instead of integrity and adherence to ideological principles, have combined to put him on the other side of the door of advantage, today. Perhaps, what he is going through may be imagined as the embodiment of emotion, in the injury of injustice. But let’s leave it there, before the position of this article becomes misconstrued.

All things being equal, Hajiya Umma El-Rufai would be buried today, as announced by one of her grand children,Hon. Mohammed Bello El-Rufai, who wrote thus: “Inna lillahi wa inna ilayhi raji’un. On behalf of the elders of our family, I have been requested to announce the Janazah Prayer for our dear grandmother, Hajiya Umma El-Rufai, who passed away yesterday. It will take place at the National Mosque, Central Area, Abuja at 1pm.”-Hon. Mohammed Bello El-Rufai.

El-Rufai’s ordeal started long before now, infact, it began like a script being read in error, by an actor, after he was nominated by the President for a ministerial position. All of a sudden, before his appearance for screening at the Senate, the air space was saturated with the story of his questionable security status. The question everyone was asking was, questionable security status of a person that was a Minister and twice an elected Governor? Where was this security report all this while? Shortly after, his successor, the Governor of Kaduna state, Mallam Uba Sani, the person he fought to install tooth and nail, commenced the investigation of his tenure. Some called it treachery. But methinks, it’s something bigger than the violation of allegiance. Well, let’s leave it there, before this article becomes misconstrued.

Elrufai has been in ICPC custody since February 19, 2026, when he arrived from Cairo, pursuant to an invitation extended to him by the commission. He was first arrested by the EFCC, where he was grilled for 48 hours. After leaving the custody of the EFCC, the ICPC took him in, and kept him there for weeks. Sources said, like what happened to late Muhammadu Buhari, that was the beginning of the complications of his mother’s health. In the end, he was arraigned on a 10-count charge, bordering on alleged conversion of public property and money laundering. Another issue some say, that looks like the violation of allegiance, with the potential of pricking the injury of injustice.

While some people are seeing his ordeal as a family affair among the elites, particularly friends that have come a long way, especially when we look at the speed with which his release was effected by the Government, albeit on compassionate grounds, and the prompt condolences that came from President Bola Tinubu, Governor Uba Sani and Malam Nuhu Ribadu, there are comments with divergent views all over. Also, unconfirmed reports have it that, El-Rufai has politely declined an offer of a federal government aircraft extended by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to convey the remains of the late mother from Egypt back to Nigeria.

Whatever may be the situation, the bottom line is, El-Rufai’s case would continue to be a special reference or case study, on the embodiment of emotion, in the injury of injustice, in Nigeria’s political history.

ELRUFAI AND THE EMBODIMENT OF EMOTION IN THE INJURY OF INJUSTICE