“We Are Parallel Lines That Will Never Meet”- El-Rufai Says He Was Never Friends With Tinubu

• El-Rufai says he never had a personal or political relationship with President Tinubu, insisting his support during the 2023 campaign was based on party principle.
• He criticized the administration’s governance philosophy, stating their values are fundamentally incompatible.

Former Kaduna State Governor, Nasir El-Rufai, has clarified that he has never had a personal or political relationship with President Bola Tinubu, stating that their paths were never meant to align.

Speaking in an interview on Trust TV, El-Rufai dismissed claims suggesting he and Tinubu were friends or political allies.

“I think it’s important to make this clarification. 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 said.

El-Rufai explained that his role in Tinubu’s 2023 presidential campaign was driven by party principle and discipline within the All Progressives Congress (APC), not personal loyalty.

“For me, Tinubu was initially just an aspirant of the party. I was approached by certain Islamic stakeholders from the Southwest and asked to support the emergence of a Southwest Muslim presidential candidate,” he stated, noting that his support was based on an understanding that power would shift to the South after Buhari’s eight-year tenure.

He added, “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. Tinubu emerged as the candidate, and I gave everything to ensure that he won. And that’s what I did.”

However, El-Rufai said their fundamental differences in values and governance philosophies made long-term alignment impossible.

“We didn’t fall out. We just could not find areas of agreement. There was no equilibrium. We couldn’t agree,” he explained, criticizing the Tinubu administration’s approach.

“I am in government for delivery, for results and performance. Public service is not about making money for yourself. It’s not about stealing. It’s not about appointing your cronies or your tribesmen,” he said.

El-Rufai further disclosed that even if he had accepted a ministerial appointment, he would not have stayed long, emphasizing that the administration’s philosophy conflicted with his principles.

“Even if the offer that Tinubu made to me to be a minister had gone through, I would have left the government long ago. The philosophy of this government is contrary to everything I have been taught as a Muslim, as a northerner, and as a Nigerian,” he said.

He concluded, “These guys didn’t come to govern. They came to enrich themselves, pure and simple. We are different people. So it should not surprise anybody that knows me and knows Tinubu to see that we are parallel lines that will never meet.”