₦airaland Forum

A former Kaduna State Governor and ex-Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nasir El-Rufai, has dismissed claims of a personal fallout with President Bola Tinubu, stating that he never had a personal relationship with the President in the first place.

Speaking during an interview on Trust TV on Monday, El-Rufai said his support for Tinubu’s 2023 presidential bid was driven by party loyalty and political arrangements, not friendship.

“I was never Tinubu’s friend. We never had a personal relationship like the one I had with General Buhari of blessed memory,” he said.

The former governor explained that his involvement in Tinubu’s emergence as president followed consultations within the All Progressives Congress and broader political considerations ahead of the election.

“I was approached by certain Islamic stakeholders from the southwest to support the emergence of a southwest Muslim presidential candidate. That is how the discussions started,” El-Rufai stated.

He added that the zoning understanding within the APC after President Muhammadu Buhari’s eight-year tenure made a southern presidency inevitable.

“As governor of Kaduna and one of the founders of APC, I knew there was an understanding that after eight years of Buhari, power would return to the south. It wasn’t about Tinubu; he was merely an accidental beneficiary,” he said.

El-Rufai noted that once Tinubu secured the party’s ticket, he committed himself to the campaign in line with his personal principles.

“It is a principle of mine to fight for the candidate of my party in every election, whether I like the candidate or not. The fact that he emerged as the party’s candidate meant I would give everything to ensure he won.”

However, he said fundamental disagreements surfaced after the election, rooted in differing philosophies of governance and public service.

“We didn’t fall out; we didn’t find areas of agreement. I am in government to serve the public and deliver results, not to enrich myself or appoint cronies,” El-Rufai said.

According to him, the governing approach of the current administration sharply contrasts with his own values.

“The philosophy of this government is contrary to everything I’ve been taught as a Muslim, a northerner, and a Nigerian. They came to govern the cake, to enrich themselves. We are different people, parallel lines that will never meet,” he said.

El-Rufai further disclosed that his decision to reject a ministerial appointment from President Tinubu was based on those same principles.

“If I had accepted the ministerial position that was publicly offered to me, I would have resigned shortly after. Our fundamental philosophies of governance are worlds apart,” he added.

yarimo:
El RUFAI you can't be TINUBU friend, you are TINUBU boy.

iwaeda:
This is fantabulously interesting. Tinubu is not beyond 2027.

AMINDA:
You wish. We have video evidence if Tinubu begging Elrufai to work with him in public, do you have any evidence of Elrufai asking to be part of Tinubu’s government? Elrufai was already minister of the FCT under Obasanjo twenty years ago and his records are still yet to be surpassed. Tinubu cannot work with the likes of Elrufai due to low self-esteem issues. We now know Tinubu prefers to be the smartest person in the room and Elrufai will never sing the mandate song to extol a mere mortal.

Racoon:
So mallam Nasir El-Rufai thinks he is making sense? Politicians are something so amusing.

Freshandfitpod:
I feel irritated whenever I hear of el-rufai

AMINDA:
You wish. We have video evidence of Tinubu begging Elrufai to work with him in public, do you have any evidence of Elrufai asking to be part of Tinubu’s government? Elrufai was already minister of the FCT under Obasanjo twenty years ago and his records are still yet to be surpassed. Tinubu cannot work with the likes of Elrufai due to low self-esteem issues. We now know Tinubu prefers to be the smartest person in the room and Elrufai will never sing the mandate song to extol a mere mortal.

Burob:
You keep deceiving yourself & adding smiling emojis to laugh @ yourself.

You calling @elrufai failure? 😂

But here’s Tinubu @officialABAT on whose behalf you’re launching these invectives, extolling the leadership qualities of El-Rufai and BEGGING him for help during the 2023 electioneering campaign.

The joke is on you, @renoomokri. 🤣 https://t.co/ND18Lm2C93 pic.twitter.com/KtauOPtiiA

— Yusuf Tukur, PhD (@realYusufTukur) December 29, 2024

AMINDA:
Yeah. The same way Tinubu cannot post Reno Omokri and FFK as ambassadors because the host nations are saying time is too short. Isn't that ironic coming from a president who has Matawalle as Defence Minister? Was Tinubu aware of this security report when he was delegating questions to Elrufai at Chatham house? How about when he was publicly begging him in Kaduna to work with him as the videos below show?

https://x.com/realYusufTuku?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1873507087399235708%7Ctwgr%5E54d6671b43edb93bc382_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.nairaland.com%2F8615463%2Felectoral-act-a-apabio-problem

Burob:
Stop jumping around in cycles, very funny how ironic now that u are now a supporter of El Rufai?

Nigerians are just too gullible, & myopic minded, your personal hatred for President Tinubu will make u dine with your enemies, just to spite your nose to cut your ears.

AMINDA:
What is more ironic is how you managed to fall out with Elrufai after singing his praises during the campaigns when he was working hard to make Tinubu president. Didn't you all project him then as Tinubu's successor? We know you all will soon turn on Wike, Shettima and even Ribadu. It's just a matter of time.

At the event in Kaduna where the immediate former governor of Kaduna State, Nasir El-Rufai, told some Muslim clerics why he chose to run a Muslim-dominated government in Kaduna State, the former governor also spoke about President Bola Tinubu, the presidential candidate of the Labour Party, Peter Obi, and the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN).

PREMIUM TIMES earlier published the transcript of what Mr El-Rufai said about his decision to promote a Muslim-Muslim governorship ticket in Kaduna. We became aware of the second part of the video after the first part had been published.

Mr El-Rufai made the commenta in Hausa. Below is the English translation.

“Now, a lot has been said about the federal government. It’s true what Professor Akintola said, we the APC governors and we decided that the South should produce the next president because that was the promise that was made. It was a verbal agreement but God knows whether an agreement was written or verbal. When we discovered that some people were scheming that a northerner must be the next president, we said no. This is not what we are. We are Muslims, we’re northerners, we’ve traditions and we can’t back down on our pledges. We said no. That was the first step.

“The next step, when they agreed with that or when they noticed that they could do nothing, they backed down. We sat down to decide on who would be able to win the seat because he has what it takes to win an election and secondly we can bring an end to politics of religion and ethnicity in this country. We decided on Asiwaju (Bola Tinubu). When we took the decision to support Asiwaju, I was not on good terms with him, we were fighting. But Professor Akintola came with their leaders from Lagos and commended us for deciding that a Southerner should emerge. They said the Yoruba in the South-west have problems. When a Muslim wants to contest an election they’ll say he shouldn’t contest because he will not win an election. What they believed was that it’s only a Christian from the South-west who can contest so a Muslim from the North is selected as his vice. They said it has not happened since Abiola; they wanted to replicate that. We asked them to go and decide on who would contest and they said Asiwaju. I told them I’m not on good terms with him but he (Akintola) said we should reconcile for the sake of Islam and I said we will reconcile.

“Asiwaju got the ticket and when he got it we knew he would have no option but to pick a Muslim as his vice; if not, he would lose the election. Just as I said, politics is all about calculation, there is no room for manoeuvre. God knows our intention. And I swear to God we stood our ground to actualise that, we didn’t do it for our gain. Myself and Zamfara State governor, Bello Matawalle, didn’t do it for any gain. Maybe the others needed something but me and Matawalle I did that to bring an end to the religious issue and to give Muslims from the South-west a sense of belonging to rule. And God… despite the religious gang-up, God made Asiwaju the winner.

“What we are able to achieve in Kaduna, we’ve now achieved it on the national level. There is no liar that can say he will do politics of Christianity and win the election. Peter Obi tried it but this is where he is now. We’ve brought an end to that. They’ve kept quiet. Ever since Asiwaju emerged, CAN has remained mute. This is how to ensure peace and stability in this country. If we do it again and again everything will be normal. To God, that was what we did. And some of us believe we’ve finished our work. Asiwaju has won and we’ve done our part. Our call is for you to pray for him to get the right people to work with.”