Former Kaduna State Governor, Nasir El-Rufai, has declared that he has never shared either a personal or political relationship with President Bola Tinubu, insisting that their paths were never aligned and could never converge.
El-Rufai, a chieftain of the coalition-backed African Democratic Congress (ADC), made the clarification during an interview on Trust TV, dismissing widespread assumptions that he and the President were once friends or political allies.
“I think it’s important to make this clarification. There is an assumption that I was ever Tinubu’s friend. I was not. We never got along with Tinubu. We never had a personal relationship,” he said.
Explaining his role in Tinubu’s 2023 presidential bid, El-Rufai stressed that his support was rooted in political principle rather than personal loyalty, in line with internal arrangements within the All Progressives Congress (APC).
“For me, Tinubu was initially just an aspirant of the party. I was approached by certain Islamic stakeholders from the Southwest and asked to support the emergence of a Southwest Muslim presidential candidate,” he stated.
According to him, his decision was guided by an understanding reached within the APC that power would rotate to the South after eight years of the administration of former President Muhammadu Buhari.
“As one of the founders of the APC, I knew that we had an understanding with the South, specifically the Southwest, that after eight years of Buhari, power would go to the South. It was a matter of principle. It wasn’t about Tinubu,” El-Rufai said.
He added that once Tinubu emerged as the party’s candidate, he committed himself fully to the campaign, regardless of personal preferences.
“It is a principle of mine that I fight for the candidate of my party in every election to win, whether I like the candidate or not. Tinubu emerged as the candidate, and I gave everything to ensure that he won. And that’s what I did,” he said.
However, El-Rufai noted that deep-seated differences in values and governance philosophy ultimately made alignment impossible.
“We didn’t fall out. We just could not find areas of agreement. There was no equilibrium. We couldn’t agree,” he explained.
The former governor was particularly critical of what he described as the governing approach of the Tinubu administration, which he said conflicted with his own understanding of public service.
“I am in government for delivery, for results and performance. Public service is not about making money for yourself. It’s not about stealing. It’s not about appointing your cronies or your tribesmen,” he said.
El-Rufai further revealed that even if his proposed appointment into Tinubu’s cabinet had materialised, it would have been short-lived.
“Even if the offer that Tinubu made to me to be a minister had gone through, I would have left the government long ago. The philosophy of this government is contrary to everything I have been taught as a Muslim, as a northerner, and as a Nigerian,” he declared.
He concluded that the sharp contrast in values between himself and the President made any form of long-term political alignment impossible.
“These guys didn’t come to govern. They came to enrich themselves, pure and simple. We are different people. So it should not surprise anybody that knows me and knows Tinubu to see that we are parallel lines that will never meet,” El-Rufai said.
