Former Kaduna State Governor Nasir El-Rufai has thrown light on the cause of his strained relationship with President Bola Tinubu.
The President and El-Rufai are not in each other’s good book, with the latter one of the leading figures opposing the former’s re-election bid.
The former Kaduna State Governor, now a chieftain of the African Democratic Congress in an interview with Trust TV disclosed that he and Tinubu never had a close relationship.
“I was never Tinubu’s friend. We never had a personal relationship like the one I had with General Buhari,” he said, attributing his past support for Tinubu to principle rather than personal affinity.
“I was approached by certain Islamic stakeholders from the southwest to support the emergence of a southwest Muslim presidential candidate.
“That is how the discussions started. As governor of Kaduna and one of the founders of APC, I knew there was an understanding that after 8 years of Buhari, power would return to the south. It wasn’t about Tinubu; he was merely an accidental beneficiary,” the former minister explained.
He ascribed what caused their supposed shared disaffection to ideological differences saying, “We didn’t fall out; we didn’t find areas of agreement. I am in government to serve the public and deliver results not to enrich myself or appoint cronies.
“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. We are different people parallel lines that will never meet.”
