The lawmaker representing Borno South Senatorial District, Senator Ali Ndume, has said that former Kaduna State governor, Nasir El-Rufai’s rift with President Bola Tinubu is a consequence of what he did against former Rivers State governor, Rotimi Amaechi.

Ndume stated this during an interview on Arise News on Tuesday.

The lawmaker, who served as the Director-General of the Rotimi Amaechi Presidential Campaign in 2023, said El-Rufai was originally aligned with Amaechi before switching his allegiance to Tinubu ahead of the All Progressives Congress (APC) presidential primaries.

He recounted that during Amaechi’s consultation visit to Kaduna, El-Rufai publicly declared his support for the former Rivers State governor, only to later change his stance following Tinubu’s visit to the state.

Ndume said, “El-Rufai was supposed to be on our side, but somehow, he moved over and I think these are part of the things that are annoying or frustrating him.

“Before Tinubu was nominated, El-Rufai made up his mind to support him. Tinubu, as he rightly said, asked him to stay and join the government. Since then, I’ve not been close to El-Rufai because he abandoned our group. He really mobilised for Tinubu, he did a lot.”

Ndume, who was the Chief Whip of the Senate at the time, also revealed that El-Rufai was almost cleared without resistance during his ministerial screening.

“El-Rufai came to the chamber for ministerial screening and we almost told him to just take a bow and go,” he said.

After Tinubu’s election victory, El-Rufai was nominated for a ministerial position but was ultimately rejected by the Senate. He has since parted ways with the APC and is now a prominent figure in the opposition, aligning with the Social Democratic Party (SDP) and the emerging anti-Tinubu coalition.

Reflecting on the unfolding events, Ndume said, “Sometimes I’ll say, ‘Okay, you did that to us, now it’s payback to yourself.’ But honestly, I still don’t fully understand what happened between him and Tinubu.”

NIGERIAN TRIBUNE