Former Kaduna State Governor, Nasir El-Rufai, has denied reports suggesting he fell out with President Bola Tinubu, insisting that there was never any personal friendship between them.
El-Rufai made the clarification during an interview on Trust TV on Monday, explaining that his support for Tinubu during the 2023 presidential election was based on party loyalty and political agreements, not personal ties.
According to him, he did not share the kind of close relationship with Tinubu that he once had with the late former President Muhammadu Buhari.
“I was never Tinubu’s friend. We never had a personal relationship like the one I had with General Buhari,” he said.
El-Rufai explained that his role in Tinubu’s political rise began after some Islamic stakeholders from the South-West approached him to support the idea of a Muslim presidential candidate from the region.
He noted that the arrangement within the All Progressives Congress after Buhari’s eight-year tenure was that power would return to the South, making a southern presidency unavoidable.
“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 simply an accidental beneficiary,” El-Rufai stated.
He said that once Tinubu secured the party’s presidential ticket, he fully committed to campaigning for him, stressing that it was his personal principle to support whoever emerged as the APC candidate.
“It is a principle of mine to fight for the candidate of my party in every election, whether I like the candidate or not,” he added.
However, El-Rufai said disagreements emerged after the election due to what he described as differences in governance philosophy.
He claimed that while his approach to public service is focused on delivering results and serving citizens, the current administration operates differently.
“We didn’t fall out; we simply didn’t find areas of agreement. I am in government to serve the public and deliver results, not to enrich myself or appoint cronies,” he said.
El-Rufai also criticised what he described as the priorities of the Tinubu administration, alleging that it was more interested in personal enrichment than national development.
“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,” he stated.
He further revealed that the same differences influenced his decision to reject a ministerial appointment offered by Tinubu, claiming he would have resigned shortly after accepting the position due to irreconcilable differences.
“If I had accepted the ministerial position that was publicly offered to me, I would have resigned shortly after. Our philosophies of governance are worlds apart,” he added.
