On November 26, 2011, Yasmin, the eldest daughter of Mallam Nasiru El-Rufai, handed away on the younger age of 25 in her London residence. Overwhelmed by sorrow and grief, Mallam Nuhu Ribadu, regardless of his personal constricted feelings, displayed outstanding energy and loyalty. He travelled to London to deliver house the delicate stays of Yasmin, the beloved daughter of his pal. It was a deeply shifting second—an exhibition of pure and undiluted friendship. From that day, my admiration for each males grew immensely.
Till Yasmin was lastly laid to relaxation, Ribadu stood because the pillar of energy, personally coordinating the solemn rites of burial. In him, I noticed the true embodiment of an previous maxim: a pal in want is a pal certainly.
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Tragically, these two once-loyal comrades—symbols of integrity who as soon as shared a imaginative and prescient to repair the system—at the moment are victims of the very system they sought to vary. The bond that was as soon as their biggest energy has develop into a painful reminiscence of what politics has stolen from them.
No matter what tomorrow holds, Ribadu and El-Rufai, now certain by damaged ties, will endlessly be haunted by what may have been prevented—if solely motive had prevailed. Within the coming days, buried recollections, clandestine plots, and festering resentment will develop into their new actuality. Sadly, this may unfold to the amusement of onlookers, detractors, and customary enemies. For Mallam Nasiru and Ribadu, this can be a bitter historical past laced with piercing ache.
It’s a stark reminder that even the strongest bonds of friendship could be severed by the sharp blade of political variations and beliefs. The pursuit of energy and affect usually calls for a horrible value—the sacrifice of affection and the cherished recollections of yesterday. For these two estranged Northern allies, it’s a tragedy that ought to by no means have occurred.
Their variations started when Ribadu was chosen because the ACN candidate, a choice that deeply upset El-Rufai, who felt sidelined. Out of frustration and what many see as envy, he joined Buhari within the CPC. In his account, he claimed Ribadu stored the choice from him.
Regardless of their rift, Ribadu prolonged assist throughout tough instances—first when El-Rufai misplaced his daughter Yasmin, and later, a couple of 12 months after, when his son tragically died in an Abuja auto crash—out of respect for his or her longstanding friendship and household ties.
Whereas El-Rufai can’t be blamed for the occasions of 2015, he actively opposed Ribadu’s political aspirations in Adamawa throughout the 2019 and 2023 elections. Their falling out was each lengthy and bitter.
The crack between Ribadu and El-Rufai continued in 2015 when Ribadu was sidelined and forged into political oblivion throughout the eight years of President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration regardless of being a card-carrying member of the APC. The pioneer EFCC czar even tried to be the governor of Adamawa State on the platform of the occasion. He couldn’t safe the ticket of the occasion not to mention contest in the primary election. El-Rufai, not only a governor however a key energy dealer within the ruling occasion, stood by as Ribadu suffered political isolation. He couldn’t provide a serving to hand to a pal who stood by him throughout his interval of intense grief. The chilly indifference from an previous pal was a deep wound Ribadu by no means forgot.
Then, as destiny would have it, the tables turned. With the emergence of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, Ribadu turned not simply an influential insider however the very nucleus and mitochondrion of the brand new administration, wielding huge energy. And like a coincidence, Nasiru discovered himself on the surface, simply as Ribadu had been earlier than.
This fallout is now a stark mirror of how ambition and shifting alliances can flip shut allies into adversaries—two males who as soon as stood collectively now drawing daggers of attrition in opposition to one another.
El-rufai has overtly declared conflict in opposition to Ribadu, his hitherto staunch ally, by teaming up with Naajatu Mohammed, who’s overtly baying for the NSA’s blood. Whereas Naajatu belongs to the opposition and may, due to this fact, be seen from the prism of somebody taking part in adversarial politics, what about El-rufai who has but to resign his membership of the APC and whose son is within the Home of Representatives on the behest of the ruling occasion? Maybe the previous governor has forgotten that whoever lives in a glass home wants not be throwing stones from the within to the within. Nonetheless , Mallam Nuhu Ribadu and Mallam Nasiru El-Rufai ought to do not forget that Earlier than At the moment, There Was Yesterday, and There’ll be Tomorrow.
