Governor Uba Sani of Kaduna State has vowed not to disclose the private steps he had taken to demonstrate his support for his detained predecessor, Nasir El-Rufai.
He insisted that he would not speak ill of the former governor despite their widely reported political differences.
Sani made the remarks amid growing scrutiny of his relationship with El-Rufai.
The former governor has been in the custody of the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) since February 18, 2026.
Attempts to secure his bail have so far been unsuccessful.
Speaking on Trust TV’s Daily Politics, Sani said he retained tremendous respect for El-Rufai.
He said he considered it inappropriate to publicise everything he had done to demonstrate that regard.
“As a matter of respect, many things I’ve done to show my respect for him, my regard for him, I don’t think I should come out and say it. Because when you respect someone, you don’t come out to say certain things,” he said.
The governor was responding to questions about his perceived silence over El-Rufai’s continued detention and whether he feared the former governor’s political influence ahead of the 2027 elections.
Sani also distanced himself from a reported comment suggesting that El-Rufai should remain in detention until after the next general election.
He said the person “who made the statement was speaking for himself. He’s not speaking for me”.
He maintained that he had never spoken against El-Rufai and would not do so.
The governor argued that his approach to political relationships was guided by his personal character and respect for those who had held public office before him.
“This is who I am. When I hold a person in high regard, everything good I have said about him, I stand by it. When I was in the Senate, I said a lot of good things about my leaders, and I stand by them,” he said.
“One good thing I am happy about is that people can only quote me saying good things about people, but they have never quoted me saying bad things about my leaders.
“I think it is better you quote me saying good things about my leaders than hear me saying bad things about them. It is something I always pray to God not to let me do. For me, that is my character.”
The remarks come against the backdrop of a prolonged political fallout between the two men.
Though former allies, their relationship has deteriorated since Sani succeeded El-Rufai as Kaduna governor in 2023.
El-Rufai, who governed the state from 2015 to 2023, supported Sani’s political rise.
He first backed his election to the Senate in 2019 and later his governorship ambition in 2023.
Sani had also served as a political adviser during El-Rufai’s first term as governor.
However, tensions became increasingly public after the change of administration.
Issues include the financial liabilities Sani said his government inherited and a probe initiated by the Kaduna State House of Assembly into the previous administration.
In March 2024, Sani said his government inherited $587 million in debt, N85 billion in domestic liabilities and 115 contractual liabilities from the El-Rufai administration.
The state assembly subsequently set up a committee to examine loans, grants and project implementation between 2015 and 2023.
The relationship deteriorated further in February 2025 when El-Rufai publicly said he was no longer friends with Sani.
He also criticised the governor’s defence of President Bola Tinubu’s administration.
He alleged that federal reimbursements and other interventions to Kaduna State influenced Sani’s political position.
Sani rejected the suggestion and continued to defend the Federal Government’s interventions.
El-Rufai subsequently left the All Progressives Congress (APC), the party he helped establish, and moved into the opposition.
After a brief stint with the Social Democratic Party (SDP), he formally joined the African Democratic Congress (ADC) in November 2025.
The development widened the political divide between him and Sani, who remains in the APC.
The former governor has since become a prominent critic of the Tinubu administration and has been involved in opposition efforts ahead of the 2027 elections.
His detention has attracted attention not only because of the allegations against him but also because of its implications for political alignments in Kaduna and nationally.
El-Rufai was taken into ICPC custody in February as the commission investigated alleged financial offences.
The commission said his detention was backed by court orders.
He has challenged aspects of the investigation and detention while denying wrongdoing in the cases against him.
In one of the major cases against him, the ICPC accused El-Rufai, a former aide and five corporate entities of alleged corruption and money laundering.
It linked the issue to an N8.68 billion closed-circuit television surveillance contract for Kaduna metropolis.
