Political commentator Mahdi Shehu has explained why, according to him, some influential Northern elders have remained silent amid the legal troubles facing former Kaduna State Governor Nasir El-Rufai.
Shehu made the remarks in a viral video while reflecting on what he described as El-Rufai’s past attitude towards Northern elders and the former governor’s current realities.
Shehu said there was a major lesson to be learnt from El-Rufai’s situation, stressing that people should not look down on others because they are in positions of power.
He said: “On so many arrogant attitudes and reclusive statements, but I think there is a great lesson for people to learn out of Nasir El-Rufai’s current realities. Again, power is transient. Again, don’t disparage people because you have power.
“ I remember that he went on air at the height of the campaign of 2023 elections. When Northerners were opposing Tinubu’s candidature, Nasir said, there are no elders in the North. We are he.
“We are the elders. Who are the elders? Show them. He said, I’m an elder because if you think I’m an elder, I’ll go and contest for election.
“I’ll contest for election and I won election. And lo and behold now, elders in the North have looked away, have folded their arms. They have gone into deliberate silent mode while Nasir is being incarcerated, moving from one court to another, from one decision to another.”
‘They could have helped Nasir’
Shehu said some of the elders whom El-Rufai allegedly disparaged were still alive, active and knowledgeable about events in the country’s political space.
He said some of them could have intervened on behalf of the former governor if their relationship had been different.
Shehu said: “I will tell you, I swear to God today, if Nasir had not made that statement of no elders in the North, there is one elder that I know. He will travel to Abuja without an appointment.
“He will go to the villa without appointment. Anybody who sees him at the gate of the villa will have no courage to stop him. He will go straight into the president’s office. And the next thing is, they will hand over Nasir to him.
“But Nasir disparaged all elders in the North. And many of them are there in their 80s, in their late 80s, in their 90s, they are alive. And they are alive, active.
“And they know what has happened in the polity. They could have helped Nasir.”
89-year-old elder allegedly recounts land dispute
Shehu then recounted his encounter with one of the elders, whom he said was about 89 years old.
According to him, the elder contacted him after seeing one of his videos about El-Rufai and invited him to discuss the former governor.
Shehu said he travelled to meet the elder, who allegedly asked him not to make their conversation public.
He said: “One of them that I visited, actually he called me when he saw my video on Nasir, an elder that’s about 89 years old now.
“I travelled to where he was or he is currently. And after exchanging presentations, he called me in respect of Nasir. He said he wants to share with me, but I should not go public with it, that Nasir revoked his only plot in Kaduna.
“He said he got that plot more than 25 years ago. He fenced that plot. And he was paying the mandatory ground rent every year.
“He brought it out. He said when Nasir revoked, he said he sent his own son to go and tell Nasir that he has been paying all the dues. And it’s one of the conditions where CFOs can be revoked when you don’t pay ground rents.
“And he told me that Nasir told him that he doesn’t need a plot now. He’s already over 80. He doesn’t need a plot now.
“He should give other people a chance to develop.”
Shehu said the elder subsequently told him that he would have been willing to assist El-Rufai if the former governor had not made his comments about Northern elders.
He said: “And that elder said, believe you honestly, if he had not disparaged us, we would have been of help to him now. But then we are going to watch, let other elders from the south come and save him.”
Shehu said the conversation with the elder took place less than three months before his remarks.
“This was the comment less than three months ago. He invited me and I went. And this were his own words.”
Shehu warns against looking down on others
Shehu concluded by saying El-Rufai’s situation should serve as a lesson to people who rise to positions of influence.
He warned against assuming that people who appear to be going down while someone is rising will never have the opportunity to rise again.
He said: “So the lesson in Nasir for other people to learn is that not only power is transient, but don’t run faster than your speed.
“Don’t assume that people who are coming down the ladder when you are going up will have no opportunity to go up again when you are coming down.
“Don’t also assume that you have monopoly of intelligence or you have monopoly of wisdom or you have monopoly of being disparate or you have the monopoly of being irresponsible.
“No. Everybody, wisdom, recklessness is just like a goat’s skin. Everybody has one together with him.
“In the mouth here, you spit out saliva, but there is also blood there. You always suppress blood for saliva to come out. People should learn a lesson out of Nasir’s current situation.”
Watch the video here…
🎥 WATCH: Why Northern Elders Turned Their Backs on Nasir El-Rufai — Mahdi Shehu pic.twitter.com/dIQVyzXjua
— Nigerian News (@Nigerians_New) October 2, 2026