The former Governor of Kaduna state, Malam Nasir El-Rufai, has dismissed the public belief that he was politically aligned with President Bola Tinubu. He however holds the view that he doesn’t see him returning to power in 2027.
El-Rufai who appeared on on Arise News Television’s PrimeTime show on Monday, revealed details about his strained relationship with Tinubu and his deep regrets about supporting him to power in the 2023 elections.
El-Rufai stated that the Northern Governors of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) agreed to zone power to the South after President Muhammadu Buhari’s tenure, ultimately paving the way for Tinubu’s emergence.
The former Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) asserted that despite concerns about Tinubu’s candidacy at the time, the APC governors examined his record as Lagos State governor and believed he could replicate that performance at the national level.
He said, “For us, as Northern APC governors, we felt that eight years after Buhari, power should go to the South. The second question was who would win owing to the party. Bola Ahmed Tinubu became a beneficiary of that.
“I was never close to Bola Tinubu. I was a Buhari Boy; he (Tinubu) had his boys. I was a Buharist. My job was delivering Kaduna for Tinubu when he won the party.
“There were questions about him, and it worried me. We checked how he governed Lagos, and it was an inclusive government; he did a decent job in Lagos. Every saint has a past, every sinner has a future. So we said if he can do half of that in Nigeria, then it’s good.”
El-Rufai admitted he had high expectations of Tinubu’s ability to appoint a competent cabinet but his administration turned out to be a disaster and he is thankful that God saved him from the embarrassment.
The immediate-past Governor reiterated that Tinubu publicly begged him to be part of his government but he refused to join the administration.
He added, “The one thing I was almost confident Tinubu would do was to pick a sound cabinet. There is no quality.
“I think God saved me from the embarrassment of having to be part of this disaster. Tinubu begged me publicly to serve in his government, the videos are there. How can they say he begged me to change my plans? I thank God because I don’t have to explain to Nigerians why there’s no light, and the killings.
”El-Rufai, further stated that President Tinubu has a disapproval rating of 91 per cent in the Northern and Southeastern regions which has slimed his chances of returning to power.
He then urged Nigerians to give some other people a chance to govern the country unless their livelihood has improved since Tinubu was sworn in on May 29, 2023.
El-Rufai, who recently decamped to the Social Democratic Party (SDP), emphasised that over the past two years, Tinubu has failed significantly in the domains of security, economy, and trade
“We have to ask the people to make up their minds, do you like what is happening? This is just two years. If your life has gotten better since Tinubu was sworn in on May 29, 2023, fine, but if not, why not give some other people a chance?” El-Rufai asked.
He added: “We have done some polling in many parts of the country, particularly in the southeast and the north. President Tinubu has a 91% disapproval rating; even in Lagos, he has a 78% disapproval rating.
“In States in the Southwest, he is doing a bit better, Ondo and Ekiti, he is doing better than 78 per cent disapproval rating, but there is nowhere he is doing better than 50%, even in the Southwest.
“The guy is gone; he has performed miserably. The economy has stopped, the security architecture has failed, there are no clear trade and investment policies, and everything is going wrong.
“They are raising lots of revenues, but we don’t know where the revenues are going because there are no results.”
