Former governor of Kaduna State, Nasir El-Rufai, has issued a stark warning about Nigeria’s political future, drawing parallels with Cameroon’s long-standing President Paul Biya.
He cautioned that without decisive action in the 2027 elections, President Bola Tinubu could mirror Biya’s decades-long grip on power.
Speaking while hosting former Vice President Atiku Abubakar at his residence, who visited to commiserate with him over last month’s attack during the inauguration of the African Democratic Congress (ADC) in Kaduna, Nasir El-Rufai described the Tinubu administration as “a disgrace to democratic ideals.”
He accused the APC-led government of centralising power rather than strengthening federalism.
“Honestly sir, to me, it is even a disgrace. I mean, for people to behave the way they are behaving, it means that all the years of saying that we are for democracy and NADECO, all the claims that we are fighting for true federalism and so on—it was all a pretense, all fake again. Because this government (Tinubu’s administration) is trying to centralize everything instead of devolving power to the lower levels.”
“The sum total of this is that we are facing an evil of such a large proportion in the history of this country that if we don’t come together and end this Tinubu administration by 2027, Tinubu will try to be our Paul Biya. All the signs are there, this is how Paul Biya started,” El-Rufai said.
The former Kaduna governor also alleged that Tinubu’s administration represents a greater threat to democratic governance than any previous military regime in Nigeria.
