Tinubu Never Liked Me, I Was Buhari’s Boy – El-Rufai

Former Kaduna State Governor, Nasir El-Rufai, has revealed that President Bola Tinubu never liked him during their time together in the All Progressives Congress (APC). Speaking during an interview on *Prime Time*, a programme aired on Arise Television on Monday, El-Rufai stated that his loyalty within the party had always been to former President Muhammadu Buhari.

According to El-Rufai, his alignment with Buhari was clear from the outset, and he never had a close relationship with Tinubu. “Bola Tinubu never really liked me, but we never really got along. In the party, I was Buhari’s boy,” he said. He added that he had a more cordial relationship with Bisi Akande, a former Osun State governor and APC chieftain, saying, “The person I got along with was Baba Akande.”

During the interview, El-Rufai also expressed skepticism about the possibility of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), under the leadership of Professor Mahmood Yakubu, registering a new coalition political party. He suggested that INEC’s current leadership may not have the same openness as that of former INEC Chairman Attahiru Jega, who oversaw the registration of the APC. El-Rufai, who once served as the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory under President Olusegun Obasanjo, drew a clear contrast between the two INEC administrations in terms of political accommodation and institutional independence.