A former deputy speaker of the Kaduna State House of Assembly, Alhaji Muktar Isa-Hazo, has said associates of former governor Nasir El-Rufai only parted ways with him politically after he joined the African Democratic Congress (ADC), but did not abandon him.
He explained that while the former governor joined the ADC, his associates remained in their respective political camps, insisting that they were still together with him.
Isa-Hazo, who represented Basawa State Constituency and is a staunch ally of El-Rufai, said, “I am still an associate of the ex-governor, but we differ politically ahead of the 2027 general elections.”
Reacting to the former governor’s claim that some of his associates and friends had abandoned him or remained silent amid his trial, Isa-Hazo, in an interview with Leadership Friday, refuted the claim and blamed El-Rufai’s family members for allegedly misleading him while in detention.
He said he remained an associate of El-Rufai but differed with him on political alignment, assuring that nobody had abandoned the former governor.
“Nobody abandoned former governor Nasir El-Rufai, and when it mattered, the people he needed most were with him,” he said.
The former deputy speaker alleged that some people were taking advantage of El-Rufai’s situation to assert themselves in certain circumstances where they believed they could excel.
He also alleged that some individuals claimed to be with El-Rufai while merely using his name, despite having different political alignments.
Isa-Hazo added that some of El-Rufai’s associates had returned to the All Progressives Congress (APC) because individuals who previously opposed the former governor were now attempting to associate themselves with him.
He said some people around El-Rufai considered the development a good omen, while those who genuinely loved and cared about him believed it was not the right move.
Speaking about the former governor’s political alignment, Isa-Hazo said El-Rufai had been misled, arguing that his detention had limited his access to information about developments outside.
He said the former governor was relying on information provided by those close to him because he was unaware of what was happening outside the detention facility.
Isa-Hazo alleged that El-Rufai had not contacted his genuine associates to give them political direction, either before or since his detention.
“He has never once called them and said, ‘This is where my direction is.’ Each and every person follows his own mind and thinks about what is right for him to do,” he said.
He maintained that El-Rufai had not been abandoned by his associates, explaining that the political alignments had shifted and that everyone was now following their individual political choices.