Former Governor of Kaduna State, Nasir El-Rufai, has raised alarm over Nigeria’s current state, declaring that the country is in deep trouble due to the emergence of what he described as “urban bandits” in leadership positions.

Naijaonpoint reports that El-Rufai made the remarks in Abuja on Saturday while delivering a goodwill message at a public lecture titled “Weaponisation of Poverty as a Means of Underdevelopment: A Case Study of Nigeria”, held in honour of former Rivers State Governor, Rotimi Amaechi, who turned 60.

“Nigeria is in its biggest trouble since 1914, and that is why we are together working and conspiring to build a coalition to take Nigeria back on track because it is off track,” El-Rufai stated.

He criticized the recurring pattern of Nigerians entrusting power to incompetent individuals, asserting that many of those in authority have no clue about governance.

“It has turned to this level because we have allowed bandits, not the ones in the bushes, but the ones in the urban area, called the urban bandits, to take over leadership,” he said.

El-Rufai, who also served as Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), emphasized that Nigeria’s leadership crisis stems from citizens repeatedly electing the “worst people” into positions of authority.

He said: “I believe that the problem that we have is that we just get incompetent people, and we hand over leadership to them. Most of them don’t really know what to do. They just know how to grab power but don’t know what to do with it.”

He urged Nigerians to take responsibility by voting for leaders with competence, capacity, capability, and commitment to drive national development and reverse the nation’s declining trajectory.