A fresh social media altercation involving Bashir and Bello El-Rufai, sons of former Kaduna State governor Nasir El-Rufai, has once again thrust the family into a stormy national conversation about online conduct, political privilege and toxic tone of public discourse on X (formerly Twitter).
The latest episode, which unfolded over several hours, began as a relatively sober debate on governance and alleged selective accountability under the President Bola Tinubu administration.
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It, however, quickly degenerated into personal insults, references to family members and vulgar language.
How the exchange began
Trouble started when an X user, @SodiqTade, criticised the arrest of opposition figures close to another election cycle, arguing that such actions amounted to political suppression rather than a genuine anti-corruption drive.
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He tweeted: “If you are arresting opposition stakeholders a year to another election, you are not fighting corruption, you are simply fighting and suppressing the opposition. You didn’t arrest them in your first and second year btw. We are not novice here. We are in a democracy.”
The post triggered a chain of responses questioning the consistency of the government’s anti-corruption efforts.
Another user, @dawisu, escalated the argument, alleging selective justice and questioning why some politicians with pending corruption cases appeared untouched by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), yet remained in the good books of those in power.
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He tweeted, “People with active corruption cases who are standing on the president’s mandate are not only untouched by EFCC, but are openly dining with him. Somehow their ‘support’ seems to be stronger than the law. This govt really knows how to pick and choose when accountability matters!”
The conversation took a sharper turn when @yojora interjected with a pointed question, referring to a viral 2018 clip involving former governor of Kano State, Abdullahi Ganduje, allegedly receiving and stuffing United States dollars into his babariga, “What category is someone who appeared in a video to be stuffing dollar in his Babariga?”
At that point, Bashir El-Rufai stepped into the thread. In a reply that shifted the debate from policy to personalities, his thinly veiled sarcasm suggested that such a person belonged in the same category as those appointed party chairpersons by political benefactors.
He wrote: “Good morning, Sir. Someone said I should tell you that that person would be in the same category with the individual that deemed it fit to appoint him as his political party’s Chairman.”
The response drew a sharp rebuttal from @yojora, who broadened the allegation, “Oh absolutely, they are the same. Including the ones that shared land to their… ”
Bashir demanded specifics and proof, insisting that lawful inheritance or allocation of land to children was not illegal. He then added a controversial comparison, “Sharing land to one’s children through due process is not illegal, far from selling cocaine and being an accountant of a cartel thereof, based in the windy city of Chicago.”
The conversation intensified as @yojora fired back with a direct accusation against Bashir’s father, “You are a fool for coming at me with this clownery!! Your father, Nasir El-Rufai revoked land as FCT minister and allocated them to his family members.”
Bashir’s response marked the moment the conversation crossed fully into vulgar territory, “It is your mother that is a fool. Since you refuse to act your age upon all the grey hair.”
@yojora thereafter attached a 2012 tweet in which an X user had publicly asked Nasir El-Rufai whether he revoked plots and reallocated them to family members. El-Rufai had replied at the time:“..8 plots out of 27,000 i approved, yes!”
Bello El-Rufai joins the fray
It was not long before Bello El-Rufai, the lawmaker representing Kaduna North federal constituency, joined the exchange. He denied owning any land, dismissed the allegation as baseless and warned that he would “drag” the user publicly if accused again, invoking another reference to the user’s mother in the process.
“You’re actually decent in some of your views. But I am the next El Rufai after Mallam. Unless your Momsy is my side chick, there’s still no land in my name. Did I put it in her name? For your sake, clarify the family members. There’s no land in my name. I am in APC, but I’ll make time to drag you like a dirty generator if you accuse me of land I don’t have. And I assure you, no one will save you. No SA, SSA or anyone. Hence the Momsy reference, not personal. You brought Popsy here.I partly blame Bash.”
The post drew immediate backlash, not only for its confrontational tone but also for references to “Momsy” and threats of personal retaliation, which many users described as unbecoming of a serving legislator.
The exchange reached its most sensitive point when @yojora referenced the boys’ mother, Hadiza El-Rufai, writing: “@hadizel look at the disgusting things you birthed. I will not insult you like your badly raised sons do others, I actually feel pity for you cos I can’t imagine a parent seeing his/her kids act like lunatics all the time. May Allah ease your affairs as you face this test.”
The post provoked strong reactions across X, with users divided between condemning the insult directed at a parent and criticising the El-Rufai sons for bringing mothers into online arguments.
A familiar pattern
What continues to unsettle many Nigerians about the recurrent online outbursts involving Messrs Bashir and Bello El-Rufai is not merely the language used in isolated moments, but the pattern that has emerged over the years, one that follows a recognisable cycle of provocation, escalation, vulgarity, backlash and eventual normalisation.
Beyond individual outrage, the repeated episodes raise uncomfortable questions about selective enforcement of Nigeria’s Cybercrimes (Prohibition, Prevention, etc.) Act, 2015 enacted precisely to address conduct of this nature.
Section 24 of the Act criminalises the transmission of messages that are grossly offensive, obscene, menacing or intended to insult or harass individuals and their families.
While journalists, activists and ordinary citizens have faced arrests or interrogations under this provision for far milder online expressions, similar scrutiny has never visibly followed the El-Rufai sons’ recurring outbursts.
They have, in the past, been at the centre of public outrage over vulgar, threatening or inflammatory social media remarks, particularly those involving references to other people’s mothers.
It often begins with a political or governance-related debate, corruption, accountability, power, land, appointments. At that stage, the exchange still sits within the bounds of democratic disagreement. But once the El-Rufai sons step in, the tone typically shifts from argument to personalisation.
From there, the conversation almost inevitably descends into references to mothers, threats, or deliberately humiliating language.
Another striking feature of the pattern is escalation rather than restraint. Rather than disengaging or de-escalating when a conversation becomes heated, both brothers have repeatedly chosen to intensify it with sharper insults, longer threads and more graphic metaphors.
Bello El-Rufai’s 2020 controversy, in which he is believed to have threatened to gang rape an X users mother during an online argument, remains one of the most infamous examples of elite recklessness on Nigerian social media.
He tweeted, “Tell your mother I’m passing her to my friends tonight,” adding an ethnic diatribe: “No Igbo sounds please!”
The backlash at the time was national, forcing an eventual apology after days of public condemnation.
Although Mrs El-Rufai stated that she does not condone sexual violence against women, she stopped short of outrightly condemning her son’s vulgar social media remarks, despite widespread calls for her to do so.
She described the offensive statements attributed to him as “fair” when aimed at those who had insulted him. At the same time, she told PREMIUM TIMES that her son should nevertheless be held accountable for his tweets.
Mr Bello later apologised for his conduct saying the controversy he sparked fell short of his family’s enduring values of decency and tolerance.
“I wish to withdraw that statement and apologise to the gentleman concerned for the hurtful comment,” he wrote. “I also apologise for appearing to attack an entire ethnic group for the misdeed of one person.”
Mr Bashir has also, over the years, drawn public criticism over a string of incendiary social media posts, including comments widely perceived as threatening violence and inflaming ethnic or religious tensions.
In one now-deleted tweet, he vowed to kill an X user following a reaction to a post by his mother, Hadiza. The exchange was triggered by Mrs El-Rufai’s comment on then United States President Donald Trump’s travel ban on four African countries, including Nigeria.
Reacting at the time, Mrs El-Rufai wrote: “A great percentage of these Nigerian Americans making us proud abroad are Igbos. There’s always two sides to every story.”
The post generated a flurry of controversial responses, prompting her to issue a follow-up tweet insisting that online attacks would not silence her. “No cyberbully can take away my right to express my opinion. Not everything is about politics, but that is something some of you will never understand,” she wrote.
An X user, identified as @jussstice09, replied with the comment: “You no go die well ma.”
Angered by the remark, Mr Bashir responded with a violent threat: “If you ever utter that phrase to my mother again & delete that tweet, I am going to find you (it’s easier than you think) & unalive you and your family.”
In another post, he wrote: “Nigeria can become great again. Unfortunately or fortunately (depending on context) a few certain people have to kpai (die) to achieve this dream.”
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Bashir has also been criticised for a tweet in which he appeared to threaten increased bloodshed in the Christian-dominated Southern Kaduna if attacks against Fulani continued. He later deleted the post and issued an apology following widespread backlash.
On a separate occasion, he described the mysterious disappearance of Abubakar ‘Dadiyatta’ Idris, a vocal critic of his father, as a fitting consequence for lying to the public. He also dismissed Nigerians campaigning for justice for Dadiyatta on X as “clowns,” further fuelling outrage.
Though some of those posts were later deleted, screenshots ensured they remained part of the public record.
The latest clash has once again raised broader questions about the conduct of politically exposed individuals online, especially children of powerful figures who command large followings but hold no formal accountability mechanisms.
Though neither Messrs Bashir nor Bello rose to prominence through social media alone, their surname guarantees visibility. Their interventions are amplified instantly, their words dissected, screenshotted and debated nationwide.
Bello is now a serving federal lawmaker while Bashir remains politically influential by association. Still, past episodes show that even when outrage peaks, consequences tend to be temporary.
Supporters of the El-Rufai family, however, insist the brothers are private citizens entitled to defend themselves aggressively against what they see as persistent provocation and misinformation.
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