Former Kaduna State Governor Nasir el-Rufai has declared that he has never shared a personal or political bond with President Bola Tinubu, asserting that their paths were never aligned.
Speaking during a television interview, el-Rufai dismissed assumptions that he and Tinubu were friends or longstanding allies. According to him, their relationship was never rooted in personal affinity.
“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 stated.
El-Rufai explained that his support for Tinubu’s 2023 presidential ambition was based on party principles rather than loyalty. As a founding member of the All Progressives Congress (APC), he said he was committed to an internal agreement that power would rotate to the South after President Muhammadu Buhari’s eight-year tenure.
He noted that he was approached by Islamic stakeholders from the South-West to support the emergence of a South-West Muslim candidate. Once Tinubu secured the APC ticket, el-Rufai said he worked diligently to ensure the party’s victory, 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,” he said.
However, he emphasized that significant differences in governance philosophy later became evident. El-Rufai criticized what he described as the administration’s approach to public service, arguing that governance should prioritize performance, results, and integrity rather than personal enrichment or favoritism.
He further revealed that even if his proposed ministerial appointment had been confirmed, he would likely have exited the administration due to ideological differences.
According to el-Rufai, the divergence in values between himself and Tinubu makes any lasting political alignment impossible, likening their relationship to “parallel lines that will never meet.”
