Senator Ali Ndume, representing Borno South, has said that former Kaduna State governor, Mallam Nasir El-Rufai, is the architect of his current political misfortunes.
Speaking in an interview on Tuesday, Ndume admitted that he sometimes feels tempted to gloat over the fallout between El-Rufai and President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
Ndume, who served as the Director-General of the Rotimi Amaechi Presidential Campaign, recalled that El-Rufai was initially aligned with Amaechi’s camp ahead of the APC primary but later switched allegiance to Tinubu following the latter’s visit to Kaduna.
He recounted how El-Rufai had publicly pledged to work with Amaechi during a consultation visit, only to later turn his back on the former Rivers governor.
He said, “El-Rufai was supposed to be on our side but somehow, he moved over. And I think these are part of the things that are annoying or frustrating him.
“He was on our side. Amaechi’s side. Before Tinubu was nominated, he made up his mind to support Tinubu, and Tinubu, as he rightly said, said that he should not leave and that he should come on board, join the government.
“So since then, I’ve not been that [close to El-Rufai] because he abandoned our group.
“He was on our side but went to support Tinubu fully. You know, he really mobilized. He did a lot of things.
“Tinubu asked him to join the government but somehow, up till now, I don’t understand what happened between El-Rufai and Tinubu, but that is not my business.
“But sometimes, I’ll say, ‘okay o, you did that to us, it’s payback to yourself’. But, I cannot understand, I was the Chief Whip.
“El-Rufai came to the chamber for ministerial screening and we almost like told him to take a bow and go…”
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The senator said after his victory, Tinubu nominated El-Rufai for a ministerial appointment but the former Kaduna State governor was rejected.
But, he noted that El-Rufai is now a leading member of the anti-Tinubu coalition after he dumped the All Progressives Congress (APC), for the Social Democratic Party (SDP).
Ndume, who also hinted that he may exit the All Progressives Congress (APC) if President Bola Tinubu fails to fix things in the country.
The senator, who revealed that members of the coalition group have made overtures to him to join them, said he has attended several meetings at the instance of the opposition leaders seeking to form a coalition to unseat Tinubu in 2027.
The senator said he has remained hesitant to join the coalition with a belief that Tinubu can fix Nigeria.
“I’m aware of the opposition coalition. I went to several of their meetings. I still believe this president can fix these things, but failure might cause me to move. The overloaded ship will sink,” Ndume said.
“They have been making overtures, but I told them I don’t want to jump from the frying pan into the fire. I have to be sure.
“I believe that Tinubu can be a successful president; that was my expectation, but if he continues this way, that ship, whether you load in other people or governors, you are just endangering the APC, pushing it towards capsizing,” he said.
“As the president said, there is a vacancy in the ship. But if you overload the ship, it will probably capsize, and if it capsizes, you lose everybody.”