Can Former Allies El-Rufai and Sani Bury the Hatchet?

With Kaduna’s 2027 political battle lines beginning to emerge, the bitter fallout between former Governor Nasir El-Rufai and his successor, Uba Sani, raises a compelling question: can two men once bound by political alliance find common ground again, or has their falling-out become a point of no return? From the corridors of Government House to the shifting camps of party politics, their strained relationship remains an unfinished drama with consequences for Kaduna’s political future.

When Sani succeeded El-Rufai in 2023, the transition appeared to be a carefully choreographed passing of the baton within the same political family. But the music soon changed. Beneath the surface of the succession, cracks began to widen over governance, loyalty and the handling of the previous administration’s record.

The rupture acquired a deeply personal dimension in August 2025, when El-Rufai publicly declared that Sani had never been his friend. It was a startling statement, one that stripped away the velvet curtain of political association and exposed the bitterness beneath.

Yet, politics is a house of revolving doors, where yesterday’s adversaries sometimes find themselves at the same table tomorrow.

That possibility briefly flickered in March 2026, following the death of El-Rufai’s mother, Hajiya Umma El-Rufai. Sani’s condolence message and attendance at the funeral prayers offered a moment of human warmth amid the political frost. But while the gesture suggested that courtesy had survived the quarrel, it did not necessarily mean the hatchet had been buried.

Meanwhile, Kaduna’s political chessboard continues to shift, with some former El-Rufai associates moving towards Sani’s camp ahead of 2027. El-Rufai’s departure from the APC and his ongoing legal battles have further complicated the road to rapprochement.

For reconciliation to take root, ceremonial gestures must give way to honest conversations, mutual restraint and a willingness to look beyond bruised egos and competing interests.

For now, the bridge between the two men remains suspended over troubled waters. Whether it becomes a passage to peace or a monument to a broken alliance may depend on what happens next in Kaduna’s unforgiving game of power.