“You scream about Fulani herdsmen in a movie like The Herd… but where is that same anger when REAL bandits abduct hundreds of our children in broad daylight?”
— Ibrahim El-Rufai, @Ibraelrufai
Golden Page Magazine | November 24, 2025
KADUNA — Northern Nigeria woke up Sunday morning to a digital earthquake, and at the epicenter stood Ibrahim El-Rufai, The young son of former Kaduna State Governor Nasir El-Rufai angry, unfiltered, and unapologetically calling out what he terms the North’s “generational hypocrisy” over insecurity.
In a 1-minute-30-second Instagram video that has already crossed 500,000 views, Ibrahim visibly agitated and pacing in his Lagos living room delivered one of the most blistering public critiques the region has seen from one of its own elite heirs.
“You scream about Fulani herdsmen in a movie like The Herd… but where is that same anger when REAL bandits abduct hundreds of our children in broad daylight?”
— Ibrahim El-Rufai, @Ibraelrufai
His rant didn’t just take aim at social media warriors. He went for the political establishment, too.
A Video That Hit a Raw Nerve
Bashir opened his monologue scrolling through online outrage over The Herd the controversial Netflix thriller accused of stereotyping northern bandits before slicing straight into the North’s open wound: the wave of mass kidnappings.
He referenced the recent terror at St. Mary’s Catholic School in Niger State and Government Girls’ School in Kebbi, where over 300 students were abducted in coordinated nighttime raids.
“This isn’t about a movie.
It’s about our convenient amnesia.
Tinubu? Buhari? No.
It is US. Our silence. Our selective outrage.
Northerners, wake up we are complicit in our own cage.”
For a region already on edge, Bashir’s tone was gasoline on dry grass.
The Political Shockwaves
Ibrahim’s father Nasir El-Rufai, a polarizing figure now rumored to be building a 2027 coalition with Peter Obi has long been a target of accusations surrounding Kaduna’s insecurity. But this video? This was not the elder El-Rufai speaking through his son. This was something else:A generational revolt.
A privileged insider turning his torchlight inward.
“This isn’t daddy’s script.
This is someone who tasted the privilege and is now calling the rot by its name.”
Comment from supporter on Instagram
Within hours, #IbrahimElRufai and #NorthernHypocrisy shot into Nigeria’s top 10 trends, clocking over 15,000 postsby midday.
Praise and Fury
Reactions split sharply along political and cultural lines. Supporters hailed the outburst as overdue truth-telling:
@ArewaYouth:
“Finally, an elite voice says it:
We normalize banditry while banning films. Madness.”
But the backlash from establishment voices was immediate—and fierce. Former presidential aide Bashir Ahmad countered:
“Easy to rant from an AC-cooled Lekki duplex.
Try surviving a real village raid before preaching.”
Others resurrected long-standing allegations against the El-Rufai dynasty—World Bank loans, ecological funds, opaque budgets accusing Ibrahim of deflection.
The familiar Arewa political chessboard lit up once again.
Government Reaction: Cautious but Telling
Kaduna State Governor Uba Sani, who has had public rifts with the El-Rufai family, issued a carefully worded statement Monday:
“Bashir raises valid pains, but unity must drive solutions.
The North’s crisis is systemic, not ethnic.
We are tightening school security and demanding stronger federal support.”
Diplomatic measured. But unmistakably acknowledging the sting. Political sociologist Dr. Amina Khalid of Ahmadu Bello University interprets the moment as a rupture in the region’s generational contract:
“Young northern elites are tired of the old guard’s deflection strategies—blaming the South, blaming Abuja, blaming films.
But Bashir risks alienating the base he wants to awaken.”
She notes that this is not his first incendiary moment. In August, he sparked outrage for saying “certain people must die” for Nigeria to progress. As the video spreads through WhatsApp groups from Zaria to Zamfara, the question lingers:
Is Ibrahim forcing a necessary reckoning or deepening northern fractures?
One thing is certain: This was no ordinary rant. It was a Pandora’s box moment, and the lid is now wide open. “He said nothing his father hasn’t screamed in private. The old man is proud of his son’s candor.” With 2027 approaching, insecurity worsening, and northern youth more restless than ever, Bashir’s firestorm may be the first spark of a conversation the region can no longer avoid.
