By Uzair Adam
Malam Nasir El-Rufai has admitted that he and other politicians supported President Bola Tinubu in the 2023 presidential election despite being aware of the controversy surrounding his academic records at Chicago State University.
In an interview with the BBC, the former Kaduna State governor explained that their backing was based on the belief that Tinubu would replicate his performance as Lagos State governor on a national scale.
“What pains me is that the government we supported, and had confidence in, is not delivering as expected. We knew about his Chicago issue, but we believed if he could do for Nigeria what he did in Lagos, it would be worth supporting him,” El-Rufai said.
After openly criticizing Tinubu’s administration and the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), El-Rufai defected to the Social Democratic Party (SDP) on March 10, 2025.
Since then, he has been making efforts to attract other politicians to join the party in a bid to challenge the APC in the 2027 elections.
As part of his political maneuvers, the former governor recently met with Pastor Tunde Bakare and former Osun State governor Rauf Aregbesola, a former ally of Tinubu.
He has also called on former Vice President Atiku Abubakar and Labour Party’s presidential candidate Peter Obi to join the SDP.
Addressing speculation that he left the APC to contest for the presidency in 2027, El-Rufai said the decision is not his alone to make.
“It is not for me to decide; it is the party and the people who will determine that. Even when I contested for governor, it was people who met and convinced Muhammadu Buhari, and he called me to contest,” he said.