“Why I Supported Tinubu In 2023 Inspite Of What I Knew” – El Rufai

By Gideon Njoku

The President has committed an impeachable offence. I was aware of the confusion over his name, his parentage, his education, but every Saint has a past, and every sinner has a future”

A former Governor of Kaduna State, Nasir El-Rufai, has said that President Bola Tinubu has never been his friend even though he worked with zeal for his emergence as Nigeria’s President in 2023.

Speaking Monday night on Arise Television, El-Rufai, who is now one of the bitterest critics of President Bola Tinubu, said he was friends with Chief Bisi Akande, not Tinubu who he didn’t know much about aside from his performance as Governor of Lagos State.

Asked why he campaigned for Tinubu to be President, given his bitterness with him now, and if he was ignorant of the many negatives against Candidate Tinubu in 2023, El-Rufai said he was very much aware of the doubts over Tinubu’s parentage, his education, his name, even his State of origin, but El-Rufai said he didn’t bother much because, as he put it: “Every saint has a past and every sinner has a future.”

He said those negatives paled in the face of the Party’s decision to zone the Presidency to the South and that as soon as that was done, he was bound to work for the success of the Candidate.

He also said he believed in Tinubu’s capacity then given his performance in office as the Governor of Lagos  State.

El-Rufai noted that even though “agberos” helped Tinubu to win the Governorship of Lagos in 1999 and 2003, Tinubu pushed them aside, and picked brilliant minds to work with him. He also noted that Tinubu ran an inclusive administration which accommodated people without minding their tribes – Igbo, Hausa, Fulani.

He also acknowledged that Tinubu improved the lot of Lagos, and gave the State a good foundation and a face-lift.

But El-Rufai regretted that two years of the Tinubu Government at the Federal level spells capital disappointment.

Looking at the security situation, he told his interviewer that two years was not early to judge the President. During the President Goodluck Jonathan Government, El-Rufai reminded, Tinubu harassed Jonathan no end and insisted that the bulk stopped on the President’s table. He mocked Tinubu for now blaming Governors for the insecurity in the State. He alleged that the sum of one hundred billion Naira is removed every month by the President for security and that it is an impeachable offence against the President because it was not appropriated by the National Assembly. “It is an impeachable offence”, El-Rufai pointed out.

Told that States now have more money, El-Rufai countered by asking what the Governors are doing with the money- what new projects?

Citing an example with Kaduna State where he was Governor, El-Rufai said there has been no new project since he left, and pointed out that all the projects the President Commissioned in Kaduna during his recent visit were projects he started and which were all about 90% completed before he left office.