Nasir El-Rufai is relishing his love for a Bob Marley soundtrack that decried betrayal by close friends and allies, days after he was forced to abandon his ministerial bid over insidious attacks from Nuhu Ribadu and the backstabbing he suffered from his political protege and Kaduna governor Uba Sani. 

Mr El-Rufai was nominated for a ministerial position by Mr Tinubu last month, but he abruptly withdrew his interest after Mr Riibadu, the national security adviser, withheld clearance for the former Kaduna governor, leaving senators no choice but to suspend his confirmation.

He subsequently departed Nigeria for Egypt, from where he was expected to visit Europe on a study trip. The politician, prominent for his social media presence, has, however, continued to drop what he described as ‘nuggets’ on his Twitter handle.

On Sunday, he reminded his 2.3 million followers of his love for Bob Marley’s 1976 hit ‘Who the Cap Fit’ and urged his followers to “enjoy your Sunday with the song and lyrics that are timeless.”

The song contained lyrics that said: “Some will eat and drink with you. Then behind them su-su ‘pon you. Some will hate you, pretend they love you now. Then behind they try to eliminate you.”

Although Mr El-Rufai did not specifically say he was directing his cautionary tale at anyone, he has long been known to use proverbial quips to take jibes at his political detractors. In January 2021, he infamously used an ethnically-charged proverb to undercut then-raging separatist arguments in the country. 

But his latest tweet, which struck a personal chord with the former governor, appeared aimed at his successor Mr Sani, who had been trying to undermine him before Mr Tinubu over who should be the replacement minister from Kaduna following Mr El-Rufai’s withdrawal.

Mr El-Rufai had suggested to Mr Tinubu that Jafaru Sani, one of his former commissioners, should replace him. But Mr Sani, who was backed by Mr El-Rufai for governor, promptly visited the president to oppose the choice of his benefactor, Peoples Gazette reported. 

Mr Sani later publicly denied telling the president to reject Mr El-Rufai’s candidate, but he was given more than 30 hours before the article ran, and he repeatedly declined to contradict the account of presidential sources who said he berated Mr Jafaru Sani as lacking political relevance in Kaduna. Our sources insisted he categorically asked the president to reject his predecessor’s favourite. 

Mr Tinubu, who named his cabinet during the week, has yet to announce his acceptance of Jafaru Sani as the cabinet minister from Kaduna. Mr El-Rufai did not return a request seeking comments about whether or not his tweet was aimed at Uba Sani.