Explosive Showdown: El-Rufai Family Demands Defence Minister Retract Kaduna Killing Allegations

Mallam Nasir Ahmad El-Rufai, the former Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) and former Governor of Kaduna State, through his family, has issued a stringent seven-day ultimatum to the Minister of Defence, General Christopher Musa (rtd.). The demand is for General Musa to either provide credible evidence to substantiate his grave allegation that El-Rufai planned killings in Southern Kaduna or publicly retract the claim and issue an apology.

The controversy stems from comments made by General Musa during a live broadcast of Channels Television’s “Politics Today” on September 3, 2026. During the program, Musa accused the former governor of taking actions that deepened divisions and significantly contributed to insecurity in Kaduna State during his tenure from 2015 to 2023. He described the situation in the state during El-Rufai’s administration as “toxic,” asserting that residents of Southern Kaduna remained deeply unhappy with the former governor over the killings recorded in the area. General Musa explicitly stated, “El-Rufai did a lot of terrible things in Kaduna State. He divided the state into two. In that, if you are from the south, you cannot go to the north to live.” He further added that the people of Southern Kaduna “can never be happy with somebody who has deliberately planned for the killing of our people,” and also accused El-Rufai of ordering the demolition of houses belonging to individuals with whom he had personal disagreements.

In response, the El-Rufai family, in a statement issued on Monday, September 7, 2026, signed by Hon. Mohammed Bello El-Rufai, the eldest son of the former governor, vehemently denied the allegations. The family expressed serious concern over the Defence Minister’s comments, describing them as grave and made without the presentation of any evidence. The statement emphasized that while General Musa is entitled to his personal opinions, such serious allegations require substantiation with credible evidence.

The family’s statement explicitly called on General Musa to publicly retract the allegation through the same medium on which it was made. “In the absence of such evidence, we call on him to publicly retract the allegation through the same medium on which it was made,” the statement read. Accordingly, General Musa has been given seven days from the date of the family’s statement to either provide the requested evidence or issue a full public retraction and apology.

The El-Rufai family warned that failure to comply with this ultimatum within the stipulated period would leave them with no option but to pursue all appropriate legal remedies available under the law in response to these unsubstantiated allegations. Mallam Nasir Ahmad El-Rufai, who previously served as FCT Minister and Kaduna State Governor, is currently an opposition leader of the African Democratic Congress (ADC).