Immediate-past Kaduna State governor, Malam Nasir El-Rufai, has revealed details about his strained relationship with President Bola Tinubu and his deep regrets about supporting the President to power in the 2023 elections.
He described the Tinubu administration as a “disaster” he’s thankful to have avoided.
Speaking during an appearance on Arise News Channel’s PrimeTime show Monday evening, El-Rufai recounted how 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.
“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,” he said.
He disclosed that, contrary to public belief, he was never politically aligned with Tinubu. “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,” El-Rufai explained.
Despite concerns about Tinubu’s candidacy at the time, El-Rufai said the APC governors examined his record as Lagos State governor and believed he could replicate that performance at the national level.
“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,” he said.
El-Rufai admitted he had high expectations of Tinubu’s ability to appoint a competent cabinet. “The one thing I was almost confident Tinubu would do was to to pick a sound cabinet. There is no quality,” he lamented.
He further revealed that he rejected Tinubu’s offer to join the administration and now felt vindicated by that decision.
“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 stated.
