Bashir El-Rufai, son of former Kaduna State Governor Nasir El-Rufai, has publicly accused his elder brother, Mohammed Bello El-Rufai, of abusing drugs and alcohol.
Bashir made the allegations in a series of posts on X on Saturday, where he launched a strong verbal attack against the federal lawmaker.
Mohammed Bello El-Rufai represents Kaduna North Federal Constituency in the House of Representatives.
In one of his posts, Bashir accused his brother of using cocaine and alcohol, while also making derogatory comments about his appearance.
He later repeated the allegation in a response to a social media user who urged him to settle the family disagreement privately rather than taking it online.
Bashir also accused his brother of putting personal interests ahead of family loyalty, particularly in relation to his political relationship with Kaduna State Governor Uba Sani.
The dispute comes against the background of changing political alignments within the El-Rufai family.
Mohammed Bello remained with the All Progressives Congress after his father left the party in March 2025, before eventually defecting to the African Democratic Congress in May 2026.
Bashir criticised his brother’s political decisions, alleging that he remained aligned with Governor Uba Sani until he believed his political position was becoming less secure, after which he moved to the ADC and began emphasising family loyalty.
Some of Bashir’s social media posts were subsequently deleted, while those that remained included further allegations concerning his brother.
However, the allegations of drug and alcohol abuse have not been independently verified, and Mohammed Bello El-Rufai had not publicly responded to the accusations at the time of reporting.
The public disagreement has attracted attention because of the political prominence of the El-Rufai family and the fact that Mohammed Bello is a serving member of the House of Representatives.
The latest confrontation appears to be a personal and family dispute, with no clear indication that it is connected to any formal political disagreement between the brothers.
