The presidency has accused former Governor Nasir El-Rufai of trying to cause unrest across Nigeria and destabilize President Bola Tinubu’s administration out of frustration.
Temitope Ajayi, special adviser to Mr. Tinubu, also claimed that El-Rufai was using a recent allegation—that National Security Adviser Nuhu Ribadu imported thallium sulphate—to distract the public from his own corruption case. The Office of the National Security Adviser has denied the claim.
“The truth is: Mallam El-Rufai has two clear intentions behind his recent actions and tantrums. One, to create political tension in the country, create an atmosphere of fear and unrest, and then damage the government through deliberate misinformation.
“Two, to divert attention from his domestic problems in Kaduna state, where he is facing massive corruption allegations. To draw attention to himself and project himself as a victim of persecution, he wants to nationalise his personal problems with his home state government, knowing that Nigerians will not be on his side over corruption charges,” Ajayi said on Sunday.
He urged the former governor to face his legal issues, saying, “Instead of behaving like a drowning man holding on to a straw to stay afloat, Mallam El-Rufai should brace up to face his corruption allegations and make peace with himself and his own people.”
Ajayi highlighted El-Rufai’s political setbacks, adding, “He lost the support of the state’s critical stakeholders. He lost the governor, who had once been his political soulmate, a man he had supported to become a senator of the federal republic and, later, the governor after him, even if half-heartedly.
“El-Rufai lost the entire 28 members of the Kaduna State House of Assembly, who unanimously endorsed a petition to both the ICPC and the EFCC to probe him over N432 billion corruption allegations, for which both agencies have invited him.”
