Former Kaduna State governor, Nasir El-Rufai, has accused President Bola Tinubu of harboring plans to extend his stay in power indefinitely if Nigerians do not unite to vote him out in 2027.
El-Rufai made the allegation on Saturday while receiving former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, who paid him a solidarity visit in Kaduna following an attack on the African Democratic Congress (ADC) inauguration by suspected APC thugs.
Describing Tinubu’s government as worse than any military regime, El-Rufai warned that Nigeria is facing “a major evil” ahead of the 2027 general elections.
“It’s a disgrace for people to behave the way they are behaving, it means all the years we were for democracy and NADECO was all fake, a pretense. All the claims we were fighting for—true federalism—were all fake,” El-Rufai said.
“This government is trying to centralize everything instead of devolving powers to the lower levels. The sum total of this is that we are facing an evil of large proportion in the history of this country. If we don’t come together to end this Tinubu administration in 2027, Tinubu will try to be our Paul Biya—he would be president for life. All the signs are there, this is how Paul Biya started,” he added.
He further claimed that Tinubu’s administration has trampled on democratic freedoms more than any past government, civilian or military.
“You are our leader and you have experience in democratic governance. When you and Obasanjo were in power, no man was imprisoned because he had a different political opinion. Even Buhari with his military background never did that. But here we are, facing a full-fledged situation worse than any military regime we’ve ever had. Your call that we must unite is a healthy one, and I think Nigerians have made up their mind that this government, APC, must go,” El-Rufai told Atiku.