Nasir El-Rufai, former Kaduna governor, has begun singing the praises of former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, whom he once berated as a liar with an “obsession for power” and “haunted by his corruption demon.”  

“Nobody gives Alhaji Atiku Abubakar the credit for economic policymaking under the Obasanjo administration,” Mr El-Rufai said on Friday, adding that people remember only negative things about the former vice president.  

Mr El-Rufai’s praises for Mr Abubakar run parallel to his stance about the former vice president nine years ago when he said Mr Abubakar “has a record of spewing outright lies and innuendo against my person.”  

In a Facebook post in 2016, titled “Atiku haunted by his corruption demons,” Mr El-Rufai described Mr Abubakar as a man who practices “dark arts of damaging other people through a campaign of lies from him and his media machine.”  

Asking Mr Abubakar to address his involvement in a corruption case that barred him from entering the United States, Mr El-Rufai said, “Everyone is entitled to rehabilitation. But that often requires coming clean with the people.  

“Can Alhaji Atiku explain the findings in the report of the United States Senate Permanent Sub-Committee on Investigations which detailed a pattern of wire transfers of more than USD 40m from offshore companies like Siemens into bank accounts controlled by him and one of his wives?” Mr El-Rufai asked.  

He added, “The report detailing the US Senate findings is online, as one of four case histories of foreign corruption in the USA. Alhaji Atiku should tell a better tale of why he is avoiding America.”  

Mr El-Rufai’s switch from a bitter critic of Mr Abubakar comes after he fell out with President Bola Tinubu, who nominated him for a ministerial appointment but was blocked by the Senate.  

In January, Mr El-Rufai lashed out at his party, alleging that the ruling All Progressives Congress now operates as a “one-man show,” tagging the state of governance and opposition in the country as a “national emergency.”  

Mr El-Rufai attributed the challenges in the country to poor leadership, emphasising the need for political parties to raise their standards for quality leaders to emerge.  

The former Kaduna governor said, “You cannot afford to have illiterates, semi-illiterates, and cunning people as your leaders. This is why we end up with the poor leadership we have today.”