Former Kaduna State Governor, Nasir el-Rufai, recently suspended his plans to study abroad, claiming an alleged plot by President Bola Tinubu to arrest him. However, former presidential aide, Reno Omokri, has alleged that el-Rufai’s real fear is potential prosecution by former U.S. President Donald Trump, who has returned to power.
Omokri pointed to el-Rufai’s controversial past, including his public admission of paying off armed herdsmen and threats against European election observers, which have reportedly placed him under U.S. scrutiny.
He recalled that on February 7, 2019, el-Rufai warned EU election observers ahead of Nigeria’s general elections, saying:
“We are waiting for the person who will come and intervene. They will go back in body bags because nobody will come to Nigeria and tell us how to run our country.”
Omokri claimed that Trump’s newly established task force on religious persecution, launched on February 6, 2025, has heightened el-Rufai’s fears. Just days later, the former governor abruptly canceled his plans to travel, blaming Tinubu instead.
He further noted that el-Rufai avoided visiting the U.S. throughout Trump’s first term (2016–2020) and suggested that his history of inflammatory remarks and alleged human rights violations played a role in the Senate rejecting his ministerial nomination under Tinubu’s administration.
Omokri dismissed el-Rufai’s claims of political persecution, arguing that his decision to remain in Nigeria was more about avoiding international legal consequences than fear of arrest by Tinubu.
“Nasir el-Rufai’s cup is full. His sins have found him out. The blood of the thousands of Christians and Shiites killed while he reigned as the Butcher of Kaduna has cried out for justice,” Omokri concluded.
