By Amb. Miri Timnan Nyantau (MTN)
Power is intoxicating. It blinds. It convinces a man that he is untouchable.
But power also expires and when it fades, memory returns
Former Kaduna State Governor, Nasir El-Rufai, now speaks loudly about the rule of law. He warns about persecution. He calls for due process. He invokes constitutional protections as though he had always been their chief guardian.
The irony is staggering.
While he occupied Sir Kashim Ibrahim House in Kaduna, court orders were treated like suggestions. Opposition voices were not debated; they were confronted. Critics were not engaged; they were intimidated. Governance, under his watch, often came wrapped in arrogance and sealed with force.
Now that he no longer enjoys the constitutional immunity that shields sitting governors, reality has changed.
The same Constitution he once leaned on selectively is now his fortress. The same legal system he allegedly disregarded is suddenly sacred.
At Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport yesterday upon his return from a lengthy vacation to Egypt, when reports emerged that he was to be arrested, the rhetoric shifted instantly. The language of human rights flowed effortlessly. The vocabulary of justice returned with urgency.
But where was this passion when others cried for fairness under his administration?
This pattern did not begin in Kaduna. During his tenure as Minister of the Federal Capital Territory under President Olusegun Obasanjo, entire settlements in Abuja were demolished in the name of urban renewal.
Yes, governments enforce regulations. Yes, cities require planning. But leadership demands humanity. Bulldozers do not have hearts; leaders are supposed to.
Families were displaced. Livelihoods were crushed. Hope was flattened along with concrete. The demolitions may have carried legal justifications, but they lacked compassion. Authority was exercised without a human face.
Before 2015, when a law enforcement agency invited him, a serving governor escorted him. Shortly afterward, he became governor himself. Fortune smiled. Power intervened.
History, however, keeps records.
As Governor of Kaduna State, there was hardly any tool of state power that was not deployed against perceived dissenters. Journalists, academics, activists, many felt the weight of a government that brooked little criticism.
Names like Barack Zebedee of Ahmadu Bello University, Luka Binniyat of Vanguard, Midat Joseph of Leadership, and Samuel Ogundipe of Premium Times surfaced repeatedly in allegations of harassment and detention. Whether framed as security enforcement or public order, the message was clear: criticism came at a cost.
Then there were the controversial land policies affecting institutions such as Rimi College and Government College Kurminmashi, alongside other properties in Zaria, Kaduna, and Kafanchan. Supporters described reform. Opponents saw land grabbing dressed in executive authority. The bitterness remains.
Leadership is not measured by how loudly one asserts power. It is measured by how responsibly one restrains it.
Today, stripped of immunity, Malam El-Rufai appears to be confronting a system he once dominated. And suddenly, he wants mercy. He wants fairness. He wants understanding.
But governance is not a game where you demand tenderness after years of toughness toward others.
This unfolding drama is different from the past. There was a time when many Nigerians viewed him as a reformer battling entrenched interests. That perception has shifted. Now, to many observers, what is happening does not look like persecution. It looks like consequence.
Call it political karma. Call it accountability. Call it the long arm of the same law he once wielded with selective enthusiasm.
No one is above the law, neither critics nor governors, neither activists nor former ministers. If Malam El-Rufai truly believes in the rule of law today, then he must be prepared to submit to it fully, calmly, and without theatrics.
A man can silence opponents. He can demolish buildings. He can intimidate critics.
But he cannot demolish history.
And he certainly cannot outrun his own shadow.
By Amb. Miri Timnan Nyantau (MTN) is the President General, Middle Belt Ethnic Youth Leaders Assembly (MBEYLA)
