Presidency Responds To El-Rufai, Questions Motive Behind Attacks On Tinubu

The Presidency has criticized former Kaduna State Governor, Nasir El-Rufai, accusing him of double standards in his comments about President Bola Tinubu’s administration.

El-Rufai, in a Channels Television interview on Sunday, stated that it is impossible to achieve meaningful change within just four years. He made the remark while responding to the single-term proposal by 2023 Labour Party presidential candidate Peter Obi and former Minister of Transportation Rotimi Amaechi, who have pledged to serve only four years if elected in 2027.

In response, President Tinubu’s aide, Temitope Ajayi, condemned El-Rufai for contradicting himself. Ajayi urged the former FCT Minister to reflect on his statements on national television and his current adversarial stance against the President.

The presidential aide questioned how El-Rufai could mount a campaign of criticism against Tinubu when he himself had stated that four years is insufficient for meaningful governance.

Ajayi said, “Yesterday evening, on national television, Mallam Nasir El-Rufai, the enfant terrible of Nigerian politics, declared that nobody can achieve meaningful change in governance within four years. That is a statement of fact, yet it contradicts his current actions. I hope the former Governor takes a step back to reflect on what he said and his present campaign against President Tinubu. It is hard to believe that El-Rufai started a scorched-earth campaign against an administration that has been in office for less than a year. If he knows four years is insufficient for meaningful transformation, where does that leave his current campaign of calumny?”