Bello El-Rufai, a member of Nigeria’s House of Representatives from Kaduna North, has publicly apologized to former President Goodluck Jonathan. He admitted that he was wrong to criticize Jonathan when he was leading the country.

Bello is the son of Nasir El-Rufai, who used to be the governor of Kaduna State. He said he didn’t realize before that Nigeria actually had good governance while Jonathan was president.

On June 12, during an interview on Channels Television’s Politics Today, Bello explained that he now understands things better.

He said the moment he realized his mistake was when he saw his father getting ready to visit Goodluck Jonathan for a political discussion.

Bello remembered asking his father where he was going. When his father said he was meeting Jonathan, Bello paused and thought about how he used to criticize Jonathan in the past.

He explained, “I used to be very active in criticizing President Jonathan when I was younger and less wise. I didn’t see the good things that were happening under his government.”

Seeing his father prepare to visit Jonathan made him realize that he should apologize. Bello asked his father to tell Jonathan that he is sorry and that he is now wiser.

He also pointed out that Nigeria’s political system has many challenges. But Bello said it is important to remember that Jonathan showed a rare example in Africa by peacefully accepting defeat after losing an election.

In the past, Nasir El-Rufai had a good relationship with Jonathan. He even encouraged Jonathan to run for president in 2011.

However, their relationship later became strained. After Namadi Sambo became Jonathan’s Vice President, the El-Rufai family started to criticize Jonathan’s administration more openly.