The Presidency has dismissed recent claims by former Kaduna State Governor, Nasir El-Rufai, that President Bola Tinubu may attempt to remain in power beyond Nigeria’s constitutional limits.
El-Rufai had compared Tinubu to Cameroon’s long-serving leader, Paul Biya, who has been in office since 1982 and recently announced his plan to contest again at the age of 92. He warned that if Nigerians failed to unite against the President in the 2027 elections, Tinubu could become a “life president.”
The former Federal Capital Territory Minister made the comments on Saturday when he received former Vice President Atiku Abubakar in Kaduna, following an attack by political thugs during the inauguration of the African Democratic Congress in the state.
“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 declared.
Responding on Sunday night via his X handle, the Special Adviser on Information and Strategy to the President, Bayo Onanuga, dismissed the remarks as “unfounded speculations” and “political fabrications.”
Onanuga argued that El-Rufai appeared unsettled by the warm reception Tinubu received during his recent visit to Kaduna, noting that the show of support contradicted the former governor’s claim that the North had abandoned the President.
“In response, he resorted to spreading further unfounded stories, including the claim that President Tinubu intends to become a ‘life president’ after 2027—a speculation that is baseless and absurd. President Tinubu is a democrat who does not intend to stay in office beyond May 28, 2031, when re-elected in 2027,” Onanuga wrote.
He further suggested that El-Rufai’s allies were frustrated by Tinubu’s growing acceptance across the country, adding that their plans to block his re-election were “doomed to fail.” Onanuga also advised Kaduna State Governor, Uba Sani, to engage with his predecessor, noting that El-Rufai could “benefit from professional counselling to steer him away from his recent political fabrications on Tinubu and 2027.”
