The Presidency has firmly dismissed former Kaduna Governor Nasir El-Rufai’s explosive allegation that President Bola Tinubu plans to cling to power beyond 2031, calling the claim “baseless, absurd, and politically motivated.”
In a sharp rebuttal issued Sunday by Special Adviser on Information and Strategy Bayo Onanuga, the Presidency reaffirmed President Tinubu’s unwavering commitment to Nigeria’s constitutional order and democratic norms. “President Tinubu is a democrat,” Onanuga declared. “He has no intention nor desire to remain in office beyond May 28, 2031, even if re-elected in 2027.”
El-Rufai had raised eyebrows over the weekend during a visit from former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, accusing Tinubu of veering toward authoritarianism and drawing comparisons to Cameroon’s long-ruling President Paul Biya. He alleged that the administration is centralizing power, betraying federalist ideals, and warned that failure to unseat Tinubu in 2027 could lead to a “life presidency.”
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“It’s a disgrace,” El-Rufai said. “All those years we claimed to fight for democracy and true federalism it was all pretense. This government is trying to control everything. If we don’t stop this by 2027, Tinubu will become our Paul Biya.”
Onanuga hit back hard, suggesting El-Rufai’s outburst stems from frustration over the growing popularity of Tinubu particularly in the North, where the President recently received a thunderous reception in Kaduna. “El-Rufai was clearly rattled,” Onanuga wrote. “His narrative that the North has turned its back on Tinubu collapsed in real time.”
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The statement further mocked El-Rufai’s credibility, implying his claims are delusional: “Governor Uba Sani may wish to reach out to his predecessor El-Rufai could benefit from some professional counselling to steer him away from these hallucinations and political fabrications.”
Onanuga also tied El-Rufai’s rhetoric to the struggles of his new political home, the African Democratic Congress (ADC), whose ambition to challenge Tinubu in 2027 now appears, in the Presidency’s view, “unattainable a mission doomed to fail.”
As political tensions simmer ahead of 2027, the Presidency’s message is clear: Tinubu plays by the rules and rumors of a third-term agenda are nothing but noise from a fading opposition.
