Nasir el-Rufai, who used to be the governor of Kaduna State, says he never had a personal or political contact with President Bola Tinubu. He says their paths were never meant to cross.
El-Rufai, a leader of the coalition-led African Democratic Congress (ADC), said in a TV interview that he and Tinubu were never friends or political comrades.
“I think it’s necessary to make this clear. People think I was friends with Tinubu at some point. I wasn’t. We never got along with Tinubu. He said, “We never had a personal relationship.”
The ex-governor said that he was not personally loyal to Tinubu in the 2023 presidential race, but that he was following political principle and party discipline inside the All Progressives Congress (APC).
“At first, Tinubu was just a party candidate for me. He said, “Some Islamic leaders from the South-West came to me and asked me to support the rise of a South-West Muslim presidential candidate.”
He said that his support was based on the party’s belief that power will shift to the South after eight years of former President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration.
He stated, “As one of the founders of the APC, I knew that we had an agreement with the South, especially the South-West, that after eight years of Buhari, power would go to the South.” It was an issue of principle. “It wasn’t about Tinubu.”
He also said that once Tinubu became the party’s candidate, he promised to do everything he could to make sure the APC won the election.
“I believe that I should always support my party’s candidate in every election, no matter how I feel about them. I did everything I could to make sure Tinubu won. El-Rufai responded, “That’s what I did.”
He did say, though, that their differences in beliefs and how they thought government should work made the distance between them worse.
“We didn’t break up. We just couldn’t agree on anything. There was no balance. He said, “We couldn’t agree.”
El-Rufai was especially harsh on what he called the “governing philosophy” of the Tinubu administration, saying that it went against his idea of what public service should be.
He said, “I am in government to get things done and see results.” “Public service isn’t about making money for yourself, stealing, or hiring your friends or family.”
He also said that even if his proposed nomination to Tinubu’s cabinet had gone through, it wouldn’t have lasted.
“Even if Tinubu had offered me a job as a minister, I would have left the government a long time ago.” El-Rufai remarked, “The philosophy of this government is against everything I have been taught as a Muslim, a northerner, and a Nigerian.”
He claimed that the big difference in values between him and the President made it impossible for them to work together in the long term.
“These individuals didn’t come to rule; they came to make money, plain and simple. We are not the same. “It shouldn’t surprise anyone who knows me and knows Tinubu that we are like two lines that will never meet,” he stated.
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