Mr. Buba Galadima, a chieftain of the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC) has accused President Bola Tinubu of ingratitude towards former Kaduna State Governor, Nasir El-Rufai, despite his contributions to Tinubu’s victory in the 2023 presidential election.
Galadima made the allegation during an interview on the Naija Unfiltered Podcast, where he also claimed to have told El-Rufai to go on exile after the relationship between him and Tinubu nosedived.
“Tinubu and his people are ingrates as far as El-Rufai is concerned. I’m not the best friend of El-Rufai. In fact, I advised him that he should be careful of the way he carries himself, that he either goes on exile or they will jail him,” he said.
The NDC chieftain said he had publicly expressed concerns about El-Rufai’s situation during interviews with the BBC and Nigerian television stations.
He also claimed to have approached former Kano State Governor, Rabiu Kwankwaso, to persuade El-Rufai against returning to Nigeria after he indicated that he was coming back from Egypt.
“I went and met Kwankwaso and told Kwankwaso that he should beg El-Rufai not to come back. These people do not mean well to him,” Galadima said.
According to him, Kwankwaso contacted El-Rufai, who initially postponed his planned return before later announcing another date and coming back to the country.
Galadima described El-Rufai’s decision to return as an act of bravery, given what he characterised as the ruling All Progressives Congress’ determination to retain power.
He alleged that the APC could resort to any means to remain in office because of the consequences its leaders might face if they lost power.
“The desperation with which the APC is going, they can do anything under the sun to come back to power, because they know what it entails if they lose power; what they have done to people will visit them,” he said.
