The Presidency has responded to recent remarks made by a former Governor of Kaduna State, Nasir El-Rufai, regarding President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s chances of winning re-election in 2027.
Speaking during an interview on Arise Television, El-Rufai said that President Tinubu would require “a miracle” to secure a second term in office. The former governor claimed that a poll conducted by his political group revealed high disapproval ratings for the President across several regions of the country.
According to El-Rufai, the poll indicated a 91 per cent disapproval rating in the South–East and Northern regions. He added that Lagos State, where President Tinubu enjoys a strong political base, recorded a 78 per cent disapproval rating.
In his words: “The poll showed a 91 per cent disapproval rating for the President. In Lagos, the disapproval rating stands at 78 per cent.”
The comments drew a sharp reaction from the Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, who took to X on Wednesday to express his displeasure.
In his response, Onanuga referenced former President Olusegun Obasanjo’s assessment of el-Rufai as contained in his memoir, My Watch.
Onanuga quoted Obasanjo as saying: “Nasir’s penchant for reputation savaging is almost pathological. Why does he do it? Very early in my interaction with him, I appreciated his talent. At the same time, I recognised his weaknesses; the worst being his inability to be loyal to anybody or any issue consistently for long, but only to Nasir el-Rufai.
“He lied brazenly, which he did to me, against his colleagues and so-called friends. I have heard of how he ruthlessly savaged the reputation of his uncle, a man who, in an African setting, was like a foster father to him. I shuddered when I heard the story of what he did to his half-brother in the Air Force, who is senior to him in age.”
Obasanjo, in the memoir published in 2014, also accused El-Rufai of suffering from what he described as “small man syndrome.”
El-Rufai served as Minister of the Federal Capital Territory from 2003 to 2007 under Obasanjo’s administration. In March this year, he formally resigned his membership of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and joined the Social Democratic Party (SDP).
The former governor is currently involved in a political movement aimed at building a coalition to challenge President Tinubu’s re-election in 2027.
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