Opinion
Knockout: Did El-Rufai’s Revenge Destroy Ribadu – or Was the French Dagger Just the Alibi?
By Mohammed Bello Doka
Somewhere in a detention cell, Nasir El-Rufai must be smiling because the man who put him there—the once all-powerful National Security Adviser, Nuhu Ribadu—has just been dumped, neutered, and reduced to an international errand boy. It is the sweetest revenge, served slowly and silently, by the very system Ribadu helped to build.
Robert Greene, in The 48 Laws of Power, warned that “the danger is long, the blow is sudden.” In Ribadu’s case, the blow came from a man he once called a friend, and it landed with the precision of a master strategist.
The story of El-Rufai and Ribadu is not merely a political feud; it is a Shakespearean tragedy of ambition, betrayal, and the brutal arithmetic of power in Nigeria. The two men were once bosom friends, climbing the greasy pole together, sharing confidences and strategies. But power, as Lord Acton famously observed, corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. When Ribadu began to harbour ambitions for the 2031 presidency, he reportedly saw El-Rufai as a threat to be eliminated. He not only abandoned the man who stood by him but, according to the former governor, set out to destroy him using the entire machinery of the state.
El-Rufai has repeatedly accused Ribadu of directing security operatives to arrest political opponents without proper investigation, interfering in judicial processes, and weaponising the Department of State Services (DSS), the Police, and the EFCC to “tame” him. In a devastating interview on Arise Television in February 2026, he declared that he was “ashamed” of their past friendship, leveling a public indictment that echoed far beyond the television screen.
The most dangerous accusation came when El-Rufai, in a now-infamous interview on Arise Television’s Prime Time programme, claimed that “someone wiretapped” Ribadu’s phone, allowing him to listen to a conversation in which the NSA purportedly gave the order for his arrest. For a man charged with the nation’s most sensitive security apparatus to be caught in such a compromising position was not only unprofessional; it was catastrophic. The state responded with force. The Department of State Services (DSS) filed criminal charges against El-Rufai, accusing him of unlawfully intercepting the NSA’s phone communications. But the damage was done. The perception of a compromised NSA, one who cannot even secure his own communications, stuck like a poisonous dart.
Yet El-Rufai did not stop there. In a letter dated January 30, 2026, he formally wrote to Ribadu demanding an explanation for why the Office of the NSA (ONSA) allegedly imported approximately 10 kilograms of thallium sulphate—an odourless, colourless, and extremely hazardous toxic chemical—from a supplier in Poland. Ribadu, in an attempt to deflect the blow, referred the allegation to the DSS for investigation and challenged El-Rufai to submit evidence. But the accusation of importing “dangerous toxic chemicals” into the country is not the kind of stain that easily washes off. The very suggestion that the NSA has access to such substances has irrevocably tarnished his reputation.
The charade reached its most absurd and tragic moment on March 29, 2026. Ribadu, who had allegedly orchestrated El-Rufai’s persecution, attended the funeral prayer of El-Rufai’s mother, Hajiya Umma El-Rufai, at the National Mosque in Abuja. Thousands of mourners, including President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and other top government officials, watched as the nation’s security chief, dripping with crocodile tears, paid tribute to a woman he claimed to have fond memories of. For the shrewd observer, it was not a moment of peace; it was the chilling silence before the storm. As Niccolò Machiavelli wrote, “Men are so simple and so much inclined to obey immediate needs that a deceiver will never lack victims for his deceptions.” Ribadu may have seen this as reconciliation; El-Rufai likely saw it as a confirmation of his enemy’s hubris.
By the time the French news agency Agence France-Presse (AFP) published its explosive report on February 23, 2026, claiming that Ribadu orchestrated a multimillion-dollar helicopter ransom payment to Boko Haram, the NSA’s reputation was already in ruins. The so-called “French Dagger” was not the killing blow; it was merely the alibi, the final piece of paper that gave Tinubu the excuse he needed to act. The newly created position of the Special Adviser on Homeland Security, awarded to a Yoruba kinsman of the President, was the executioner’s blade. It stripped Ribadu of his domestic security portfolio, leaving him with only the hollow title of NSA and the demeaning task of handling international liaison. As Baltasar Gracián wrote in The Art of Worldly Wisdom, “Never depend on the arms of others.” Ribadu had no political base, no governors, no party. He was a man of power only because Tinubu lent it to him, and when the wind changed, the power was taken back.
Ribadu, who was once the most powerful Northerner in the Villa, has been reduced to the same ghostly status as Vice President Kashim Shettima—visible in photographs but absent in influence. The man who used the security apparatus to fight his northern rivals has now been fought by the very same machine. El-Rufai sits in a detention cell, not because of Ribadu’s power, but because he dared to speak the truth. And yet, in a bitter twist of irony, Ribadu is the one who has been politically executed. The man who tried to destroy his friend has been destroyed by the very system he helped entrench. As Napoleon Bonaparte once noted, “He who fears being conquered is sure of defeat.” Ribadu feared El-Rufais ambition and tried to crush it, but in doing so, he exposed his own fatal weakness. The wiretap, the poison gas, the ransom payments—whether true or false, these allegations have defined his legacy.
The new Homeland Security Adviser, Retired Major General Famadewa, now controls internal security coordination, intelligence fusion on domestic threats, and hostage negotiation protocols. Ribadu has been handed the impossible task of defending his legacy from a position of complete irrelevance. He will travel, attend meetings, and smile for the cameras. But the real power has departed. The chickens have finally come home to roost.
El-Rufai, for all his troubles, has achieved a monumental feat. He has not only destroyed the reputation of his once-friend but has also forced Tinubu to act, exposing the hollow core of the administration’s much-vaunted security architecture. The French dagger was just the delivery boy. The real knockout punch was thrown by a man who knew Ribadu better than anyone else—and who used that knowledge to bring him down.
Congratulations, Nuhu Ribadu. You are now officially dumped. And in that cell, believe it or not, Nasir El-Rufai is laughing.
As the ancient warrior-philosopher Sun Tzu wrote, “The supreme art of war is to subdue the enemy without fighting.” El-Rufai did not need to fire a single shot. He simply told the truth, and the truth—no matter how inconvenient—had the power to destroy an empire. May this serve as a lesson to those who entrench dictatorships: you will always be its first victim.
Mohammed Bello Doka can be reached via bellodoka82@gmail.com
By H. E. Mejeh
Yesterday in New York, Nigerian delegates staged a well-rehearsed walkout from the United Nations General Assembly as Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, took the podium.
Dozens of delegates left the hall in protest of Israel’s war in Gaza and Lebanon. Netanyahu, unfazed, called them “moral cowards” and continued his speech.
It was a powerful scene for international cameras. But for any Nigerian watching at home, it was a scene of profound irresponsibility and hypocrisy.
Our government is very good at performing morality abroad, while abdicating its primary duty at home.
What moral standing do we have to walk out on terrorism?
Israel says it is fighting terrorism – Hamas, Hezbollah, Iran. You may agree or disagree with its methods. But its government leaves no doubt that it will defend its citizens at all costs. Netanyahu told the UN that attacking Iran “was one of the easiest decisions I’ve ever had to make” because the security of his people was non-negotiable.
What is Nigeria’s doctrine on terrorism?
For over 15 years, Boko Haram, ISWAP, bandits, and kidnappers have turned the North-East, North-West, and North-Central into killing fields. Thousands of our citizens have been slaughtered, our schoolgirls abducted, our farmers displaced, our soldiers ambushed, killed. Yet the response of the Nigerian government has been press releases, committees, and condolence messages.
We walk out against alleged genocide in Gaza, but we have normalized genocide in Benue, in Plateau, in Southern Kaduna, in Zamfara, in Borno. A government that cannot protect its own people has no business performing outrage on the world stage.
The Lackadaisical War
1.No Clear Ideology: Israel has defined its enemy. Nigeria still calls terrorists “bandits,” “gunmen,” and “unknown gunmen,” as if naming them correctly would be too offensive.
2.No Accountability: When terrorists kill 40 citizens in a village, no security chief loses his job. When a school is attacked, no minister resigns. Failure is rewarded with tenure extension.
3.No Justice: Terror suspects are “repented” and reintegrated with stipends, while their victims rot in IDP camps without justice or compensation.
Which serious nation fights terrorism this way?
Our delegates can afford to fly Business Class to New York to walk out on Israel, but our soldiers in the trenches cannot afford basic drones, night-vision goggles, and timely air support.
The Truth
You cannot fight foreign injustice while you pamper domestic terror.
That UN walkout was not foreign policy. It was a distraction. A government that is failing to secure lives and property at home is trying to buy cheap moral credit abroad.
If our government had the same energy it used to walk out on Netanyahu to walk into Sambisa Forest, into the bandit camps of Zamfara, into the killer herdsmen hideouts in Benue, Nigeria would be safer today.
Charity begins at home. Security begins at home. Leadership begins at home.
Until we defeat the terrorists in Nigeria, we have no moral right to lecture any nation on how it defeats its own.
H. E. Mejeh Esq.
Lawyer with Conscience, Nurtured by Truth.
By Rufai Oseni
The Minister of Works is a key player in President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s government who is not performing well to help Mr President win the hearts of many Nigerians ahead of the crucial January 2027 Election.
I have been a staunch supporter of President Tinubu even before the 2023 Presidential Election.
I strongly disapprove of the performance of Works Minister, Sen. David Umahi. His failure is causing huge embarrassment and hatred to PBAT because of the hardship brought upon Nigerians on federal roads despite the trillions of naira released for road rehabilitation projects by PBAT.
I doubt if since May 29, 1999 there has been any Nigerian President who has shown so much commitment and determination to fix federal highways than President Tinubu
Believe me, if I were the Minister of Works under a very patriotic, committed and determined leader like President Tinubu, I would have restored these critical federal highways within the last three years with such trillions of naira released for this purpose. I say this from my knowledge and experience as an Engineer who headed Delta State Government Direct Labour Agency (DLA), an Agency statutorily charged with the construction, rehabilitation and maintenance of roads and who in August 2011 was saddled with the tough task of urgently restoring hundreds of kilometers of roads in my State that had collapsed and became death traps leading to fatal accidents and deaths of our people and commuters.
In less than two years and with only about three billion naira released by the State Government, I reconstructed and rehabilitated these collapsed roads, constructed some new ones and also opened up many new roads in our rural communities to enable our farmers to commute easily to their farms and transport their produce to urban cities.
The records are there, he said, for anyone to go verify. He added that: Some of the asphalt paved roads I did over thirteen years ago are still standing firm today as if they were constructed just one week ago. I guarantee that these roads will last another ten years or more.
A patriotic and committed PBAT should not end up being daily abused by Nigerians who are rightly angry because of the hell they go through traveling on these roads; instead, Mr President should be receiving their praises and prayers if only his Minister of Works rightly utilized the funds released to him by the President to fix these roads.
I can tell Nigerians that President Tinubu is more pained and heartbroken than anyone else seeing reports of the hell Nigerians still go through traveling across our country on these federal roads.
Frankly if this disturbing situation continues on our federal highways I worry that Nigerians may express their anger against PBAT at the January 2027 Presidential Election except Mr President swiftly takes decisive action right now
The Minister’s Concrete Pavement Policy has been a disaster and a source for huge waste of public funds. It is ridiculous and makes no engineering and economic sense at all! What has Concrete Pavements got to do on Lokoja to Abuja, Abuja to Kaduna highways? I am surprised that some State Govs even adopted his Concrete Pavement Policy and wasting their States’ Funds.
It is wrong for the Minister to promise that within the next two weeks he will restore the collapsed sections of Benin-Agbor-Asaba and Benin-Sapele-Effurun Fedeal Highways. He knows that this is not possible in this peak of rainy season. Only palliative works can be done just to allow vehicles to maneuver.
It is also wrong for the NDDC to be directed to take over responsibility meant for the Ministry of Works and for which trillions of naira have been released to the Ministry. Statutory Funds approved and released to NDDC are not meant for such Federal Road Projects; they are meant to take care of very special and pressing needs of our people of the Oil and Gas Producing States of Niger Delta Region
By Philip Nyam
Last month, I was part of a delegation that participated in the Seminar on Young Leaders under the Global Development Initiative (GDI), organised by the University of International Business and Economics (UIBE), in Beijing, China. We came from diverse countries including Angola, Antigua and Barbuda, Gambia, Grenada, the Kurdish Iran, Nigeria, Sierra-Leone, Macedonia, and South Africa. Available records show that the UIBE has, since 2000, with the approval of the Chinese Ministry of Commerce, conducted more than 140 bilateral and multilateral training programmes, hosting over 350,000 participants.
The UIBE is by every standard a welcoming academic environment, a great citadel of learning renowned for building leaders for tomorrow. It is axiomatic that one of the problems plaguing developing or underdeveloped countries is poor leadership. This effort is to lay a solid foundation and bridge the gap.
The GDI, of course, is China’s ambitious proposal for worldwide development, launched by President Xi Jinping at the UN General Assembly on September 21, 2021. The idea is simple and urgent: Push the UN 2030 Agenda and the SDGs, but anchor them in what developing countries need most. Poverty reduction, food security, vaccines and health, financing for development, climate change and green development, industrialisation and the digital economy. In other words, the GDI is China’s call for a shared future, and it is a project that puts developing countries first.
So, for two weeks at UIBE, we lived inside that idea. Despite the fact that some of us were visiting China for the first time, we quickly integrated. We were taught China’s basic national conditions and achievements since reform and opening up. We studied how China is implementing the UN 2030 Agenda through poverty alleviation. We took lectures on China’s political system, the digital economy, artificial intelligence, intellectual property, Chinese history, Chinese culture, and the cultivation of young leaders under GDI. The participants were also exposed to the philosophy behind Chinese steady development: “If you want to be rich, build the roads”. The lecturers were professional and down-to-earth; the supervisors and volunteers were amazing, and the people were generally friendly and welcoming. And so, we read, digested, and assimilated what we were taught.
Between classes, China opened itself to us. We tasted our way through Beijing and Sichuan’s rich cuisine. In Chengdu, capital city of Sichuan Province, we watched Sichuan Opera face-changing until we couldn’t tell where the mask ended and the wonder began. We sat for tea and learned the quiet discipline in every pour. At the Panda Base, we met giant pandas and red pandas, black-and-white ambassadors that everyone falls for. We climbed the Great Wall and felt history under our feet. We had the rare opportunity of participating in the Fourth China International Supply Chain Expo, and we visited the Museum of Foreign Economic and Trade Relations.
It was indeed a masterclass in policy and culture. But some encounters don’t fit into a seminar schedule. They slip between lectures, between the Great Wall and a bowl of hotpot, and end up rewriting the whole trip for you. And the lesson I keep returning to came from a narrow lane lit by lanterns. It didn’t happen in a lecture hall; it happened in Kuanzhai Alley of Chengdu.
My encounter with a six-year-old boy named Eno. It was a rare encounter that has left an indelible impression on me. Kuanzhai’s Alley is Chengdu’s living room. Red lanterns, teahouse chatter, the smell of spice in the air. We were taking a walk into the Alley when a small voice stopped me. Eno was six. Bright eyes. Questions ready before his hello finished. “Where from? Your name? Do you love football?” At six, he spoke good English. He knew Cristiano Ronaldo. He asked about pandas and why only Chengdu keeps them so close. He asked about the ongoing World Cup in the USA, Canada, and Mexico. He talked like a child with maps and goals in his head, but he listened like someone older. No shyness, no demand. Just courage wrapped in courtesy.
Then came the gesture I did not expect. Eno pressed a small picture of a panda into my hand. “Wish you well,” he said, and gave it free. No blood, no prior knowing. A stranger’s hand, offering love without a sound. I felt it immediately. I had to look away for a second. Because tears rose unbidden. In that moment, Eno was not just a boy in an alley. He was the idea behind GDI made human: spreading love, uniting humanity, one small act at a time. To me, Eno is not just a little boy in an alley; he is China’s welcome, wide and deep.
That small panda picture now lives in my sitting room in Nigeria. I guard it. Some days it’s just paper and ink. Other days it’s a window back to Chengdu, to lantern light, to a boy who decided a stranger should feel welcome.
Eno taught me something the lectures circled but could not say as plainly: kindness needs no reason. It just begins. Love needs no reason to be sweet. If GDI is about building a more connected, equitable world, I saw it in miniature that afternoon. Policy, trade, and technology matter. So do pandas, football, and a child’s unguarded generosity.
I hope to reconnect with Eno someday. Until then, I’ll keep looking for that golden light in Kuanzhai’s alleys, and I’ll keep telling the story of the six-year-old who reminded a visitor from Nigeria that the soul of a city, a nation, can fit in one small hand.
…Philip Nyam participated in the just-concluded Seminar on Young Leaders under the GDI in Beijing.
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