Former Kaduna State governor Nasir El-Rufai has said he harbours no desire for revenge or retribution against former colleagues and associates who remained silent during his recent difficulties.
In a statement titled “My Relationships and the Aftermath” issued on Wednesday, El-Rufai reflected on the apparent quiet from people he had previously supported or maintained close ties with.
“Over the years, I have stood by people and for causes I believed in, sometimes in difficult circumstances and at considerable personal cost,” he said. “I did so not in expectation of praise, gratitude or reciprocity, but because I believed it was right. Those were choices I made freely, and I remain answerable for them.”
El-Rufai noted that those he once backed were free to choose their own responses. “Some may speak; others may remain silent. Others may even deny our relationship or try rewriting history,” he said. “Their reasons are their own, and I do not wish to judge them merely because their response differs from what others or even I might have expected.”
He added that recent adversity had clarified certain relationships. “Adversity has a way of illuminating relationships,” El-Rufai stated. “What I learn in difficult times like the past few months may lead me, quietly and without regret, to reconsider the nature of certain relationships.”
The former governor emphasised he held no resentment. “I have no regrets about standing by people or for causes when I believed it was right to do so, and I bear no resentment towards anyone who chooses not to do the same for me,” he said. “I would rather remain true to the principles that have guided my own conduct than allow the conduct of others to redefine them.”
On any perceived injustice or ingratitude, El-Rufai declared: “I seek neither revenge nor retribution. Ultimate accountability belongs to Almighty Allah, and I leave that judgment to Him, in this world and in the Hereafter.”
He concluded that individuals must live with their choices. “In the end, each of us must live with the choices we make, and posterity will render whatever verdict it sees fit. My only concern is to remain at peace with my conscience and, above all, with Almighty Allah.”
