There is no love lost between Governor Nasir Elrufai and the
former Governor of Lagos State, Bola Tinubu.
On Sunday, Mr El-Rufai took another salvo to the
presidential ambition of Tinubu, when the Minister of Transportation, Rotimi
Amaechi visited Kaduna State to lobby the statutory delegates.
Three days ago, the Kaduna State delegates had endorsed
Tinubu, and pledged their votes to him.
However, on Sunday, the delegates changed their minds after
El-rufai presented a convincing argument on why President Muhammadu Buhari
loves Amaechi.
“He made the sacrifice to move to our party. It was a
game-changer. This is part of the reason President Buhari loves Minister
Amaechi till tomorrow,” El-Rufai said.
In the speech, El-Rufai poked a hole in the narrative that
Buhari emerged because of the alliance with Tinubu, intead, he stated that it
was the defection of Amaechi and the other four governors from the PDP that
changed the game for the APC in 2015.
To give it more effect, El-rufai used Amaechi’s traditional
title bestowed on him by the Emirate of Daura, Dan Amanar.
This is the continuity of the long history of the cold war
between El-Rufai and Tinubu.
In Segun Adeniyi’s book, against the run of play, Tnubu
blamed El-Rufai, Bukola Saraki and others for blocking his path towards
accessing the presidency.
In 2023, El-Rufai again poked Tinubu when he spoke at an
event in Ikoyi, Lagos State. He detailed how to defeat a godfather.
During the question and answer session, a Senior Advocate of
Nigeria and three-time commissioner in Lagos State, Dr Muiz Banire, had asked
El-Rufai how godfatherism could be dealt with.
“Godfatherism. This is Lagos. Let me tell you something sir;
you know, Kaduna State used to be like that. There were three or four
politicians in Kaduna that you could not become anything unless you had them on
your side. Those were the godfathers of Kaduna politics and you had to carry them
along and you know, the three words, ‘carry them along’ mean paying them
regularly,” he said.
Days after, he reiterated it again, while speaking with
journalists after a meeting with President Buhari at the villa.
“I don’t know if he (Tinubu) is the godfather of Lagos. What
I know for sure is that we have retired godfathers….If anyone feels offended by
that, that’s his business,” he said.
In 2020, El-Rufai took another salvo at Tinubu during a
webinar in commemoration of the 63rd birthday of the Minister of Interior, Rauf
Aregbesola.
“You know I’m your man any day. I’m not Asiwaju’s man and
you are Asiwaju’s man, but I am your man any day. Asiwaju and I have
differences but you and I have no differences,” he said.
Why Tinubu will be
concerned
As at the close of submission of forms on Friday, 28 persons
bought the presidential forms, but 25 submitted the forms.
Twenty-one aspirants are from the south, while four;
Abubakar Badaru (Jigawa), Sani Yerima (Zamfara), Ahmad Lawan (Yobe) and Yahaya
Bello (Kogi) are from the north.
However, in the south, very few States are without
aspirants. In the past couple of weeks, the attention of the aspirants have
turned to the north, as they visit one State after another.
There is another worry for Tinubu, which is religion. The
same factor that stopped him from becoming the Vice President in 2015, appears
to be playing out again.
He is limited by the choice of Vice President he could pick
from the north. Unless he decides to run a Muslim/Muslim ticket, he will have
to settle for vice from either Northeast or Northcentral.
However, with Lawan in the race from Yobe, Northeast will be
a battle ground, despite the work of Kassim Shettimah and Babachir Lawan.
Although, El-Rufai has stated that he will not contest for
any position in the 2023 election, he, however, said if the President directs
otherwise, he will join the race.
In Kano State, Governor Umar Guanduje is battling with
massive defection from the APC to the NNPP, the party of former Governor Rabiu
Kwankwaso.
Last week, Abdulmumin Jibrin, the DG of Tinubu Support
Organisation, also jumped ship to the NNPP.
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