A former political adviser to ex-Governor Nasir El-Rufai of Kaduna State has said his “greatest political regret” was supporting his former principal, accusing him of using religion and tribe to divide the state.
Ben Kure, who was also the director general of El-Rufai’s gubernatorial campaigns in 2015 and 2019, made the claims during an interview on Channels Television.
He said he was part of the pioneer team that built the All Progressives Congress (APC) structure in Kaduna State, which eventually produced El-Rufai as governor. Kure explained that El-Rufai entered Kaduna politics as a “greenhorn” without a political base and relied on party loyalists to secure power.
According to him, El-Rufai was “laundered to us as a nationalist,” but his eight-year leadership showed “nothing but politics of exclusion, politics of discrimination, and politics of divide and rule.”
Kure alleged that the former governor thrived on crisis. “He used religion, he used tribes and sentiments to knock the heads so that he can have his way through,” he said.
When asked if he noticed these traits while in office, Kure said his loyalty to the party kept him committed despite his reservations, adding that he had been “stomaching this so that the party can grow.”
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