Nasir El-Rufai
Nasir Ahmad el-Rufai is a Nigerian politician who served as governor of Kaduna State from 2015 to 2023. He had served as minister of the Federal Capital Territory from 2003 to 2007. El-Rufai also served Between November 1999 and June 2023 as the Director-General and chief executive of the Federal Privatization Agency - the Bureau of Public Enterprises. He is a founding member of the ruling party All Progressives Congress. He was appointed the party's Interim Deputy National Secretary and member of its National Working Committee. He defected to the opposition African Democratic Congress in November 2025, citing irreconcilable differences with both the ruling APC and the opposition Social Democratic Party.
Early life, education and career
Childhood and education
Nasir Ahmad El-Rufai was born on 16 February 1960 to a Fulani family in Daudawa, in present day Katsina State. His father died while he was eight years old, and he was sponsored through his early schooling by an uncle.El-Rufai was educated at Barewa College, Zaria. As a junior at the college, future president, Umaru Yar'Adua, was the house captain of his dormitory. In 1976, he graduated at the top of his class, winning the "Barewa Old Boys' Association Academic Achievement" Trophy. El-Rufai studied at the prestigious Ahmadu Bello University in Zaria, where he received a bachelor's degree in quantity surveying with first class honours.
In 1984, he received a Master of Business Administration from Ahmadu Bello University, and a Post-Graduate Diploma in Computer Science from the same university in 1985. He has since attended several professional and post-graduate programs, including the Owner-President Management Program between 1993 and 1995, and the Advanced Management Programme of the Harvard Business School in 2002. He attended the Georgetown School of Foreign Service of Georgetown University in Washington, D.C. for the Georgetown Leadership Seminar in 2000 and programs on privatization at Arthur D. Little School Management and several leadership development programs of Aspen Institute.
In August 2008 he received a law degree from the University of London; and a master's degree in public administration from the John F. Kennedy School of Government of Harvard University in June 2009. He also received the Kennedy School Certificate in Public Policy and Management having spent 11 months as an Edward A. Mason Fellow in Public Policy and Management from July 2008 to June 2009.
In 2017, he enrolled in for a Doctorate Degree in Governance and Policy Analysis at the United Nations University - Maastricht Economic and Social Research Institute on Innovation and Technology in Netherlands.
Professional career
In 1982, he founded El-Rufai & Partners, a quantity surveying consulting firm with three partners, which he managed until 1998. During the military juntas of 1983–1998, the firm received building and civil engineering consultancy contracts including during the construction of Abuja, making the partners "young millionaires". In addition to his practice, El-Rufai held management positions with two international telecommunications companies, AT&T Network Systems International BV and Motorola Inc.Early political career
After the death of military dictator Sani Abacha, his successor Abdulsalami Abubakar began planning the peaceful transition of power, he set up an advisory policy committee which was referred to then as "the presidents think tank" of technocrats to aid in demilitarising the entrenched public administration following years of military dictatorship in Nigeria. Abubakar appointed El-Rufai as an economic advisor on his team in 1998, he resigned from his private sector positions and spent the next year of the transition working primarily on issues with the World Bank, International Monetary Fund, and other financial institutions overseeing the national privatisation program and electoral finance for the 1999 presidential election. On 29 May 1999, Abubakar transferred power to President Olusegun Obasanjo. In November 1999, Obasanjo appointed El-Rufai as the director-general of the Bureau of Public Enterprises, and secretary of the National Council of Privatisation where he spear-headed the privatisation of several government owned corporations under the supervision of Vice President Atiku Abubakar.Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (2003–2007)
In July 2003, he was sworn in as the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory. During his tenure, he presided over a radical transformation of the federal capital earlier riddled with corruption and vast deviation from the original Abuja masterplan. With the establishment of the Abuja Geographic Information System, the capital became the first municipality in Nigeria with a computerised land register and information system.After el-Rufai's appointment was approved by the Nigerian Senate, he accused two senators, Jonathan Zwingina and Ibrahim Mantu, of asking him for a bribe of $414,000 before his nomination as a minister was approved. Both senators denied the accusation, with Mantu calling him a 'pathological liar'. However, a public hearing convened by the Senate on the matter indicated that El-Rufai may have been telling the truth when both Mantu and Zwingina failed to swear or affirm using the Quran or Bible to say the truth and nothing but the truth, when El-Rufai willingly did so.
A year into el-Rufai's tenure, members of the Senate Public Accounts Committee accused him of paying exorbitant salaries to staff without proper approval and demanded that he reimburse the state. In response, el-Rufai retorted: "Silence is the best answer to a fool". This remark angered the Senate, which went on a two-day strike, demanding that the President sack him for his comments. President Obasanjo issued an apology on his behalf, but it was swiftly rejected by the Senate. As a result, el-Rufai appeared before the Senate to formally apologise, stating "I did not mean what I said. I certainly did not mean to refer to the senators . The statement is inappropriate. I made a mistake and I am sorry."
Along with the President and members of the Economic Management Team, El-Rufai led the reform of the Nigerian public service which had become dysfunctional during years of military dictatorship. At various times during his tenure as Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, he was tasked to oversee other agencies like the Federal Ministries of Commerce and Interior. He also chaired several high-profile cabinet committees that led to the establishment of a mortgage system in Nigeria, National ID card system for Nigeria, Electric Power Supply Improvement and the sale of Federal Government real estate in Abuja.
During the last days of the Obasanjo administration, Nuhu Ribadu, a one-time El-Rufai ally described him as the "de facto No. 2 official", tagging him with the role of Vice President, especially after the fall-out between Obasanjo and his vice president Atiku Abubakar. It is believed that Obasanjo's trust and confidence in El-Rufai angered a vast majority of the political class, which would later persecute him.
Demolitions
As FCT Minister, el-Rufai came to be known as "Mr Demolition" for his policy of forced evictions and demolitions of illegal buildings and squatter settlements in the capital territory. A report by the Centre on Housing Rights and Evictions, titled 'Forced Evictions: Violations of Human Rights 2003-2006', claimed that 800,000 people living in informal and unauthorised settlements were displaced in an effort to restore Abuja to its original master plan. The report also stated that at least 49 settlements were targeted for demolition by the Federal Capital Development Authority under el-Rufai's leadership. It is noteworthy that the Centre published its report without ever interfacing with the Federal Capital Territory Administration which El-Rufai headed.By the end of El-Rufai's term, the government had demolished 945 buildings in the FCT, around 300 in Kubwa, and 12,000 shanties in squatter settlements across Idu Karmo, Jiwa, Gwarimpa, Jabi, and Anguwan Mada. Notably, one of the demolished buildings was the residence of the PDP National Chairman, Ahmadu Ali, in Asokoro, which was removed for being built over a water trunk line. El-Rufai also revoked 1.2 hectares of land in the Central Area owned by late businessman and ruling party financier, Joseph Igwe, as the land was designated as a green park, railway corridor and church in the Abuja master plan.
Exile and return
In 2008, El-Rufai went into self-imposed exile and became a vocal critic of the Umaru Yar'Adua administration.Oman 1st May 2010, he returned to Nigeria and was subsequently invited for questioning by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission. He appeared at the Commission on the 6th of May, and released on administrative bail on the same day. He explained his return was in order to clear his name of allegations of abuse of office and corruption. In 2011, el-Rufai joined party politics with the Congress for Progressive Change supporting Muhammadu Buhari's campaign in the 2011 presidential election. In 2013, Justice Sadiq of the Federal Capital Territory High Court discharged and acquitted El-Rufai of all the allegations levelled by the EFCC against him.
All Progressives Congress
In 2013, el-Rufai was appointed deputy national secretary of the newly formed All Progressives Congress.In September 2014, El-Rufai declared his intention to campaign for Governor of Kaduna State, contesting the APC governorship primaries to emerge as the party's candidate for Governor of Kaduna State. He went on to win the governorship election, with over one million votes to defeat the incumbent Governor Mukhtar Ramalan Yero the candidate of the People's Democratic Party with a margin of more than 400,000 votes. In 2018, he again emerged as the APC's governorship candidate. He was re-elected on 9 March 2019, defeating his closest rival by over 200,000 votes.