The former governor of Kaduna State, Nasir El-Rufai, was shown in a video published by the Punch Newspaper Online last evening, recounting how they dealt with the issue of tribalism and religion in the politics of Nigeria.
He said that the first thing they did was to back Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu because they believed that power should move from the North to the South and West.
He went on to say that the second step they took was to address the issue of tribalism and religion, and that Professor Ishaq Akintola, from Lagos State, came to talk to them on how Tinubu will win as they were doing so.
According to El-Rufai, Professor Ishaq Akintola warned them about a single issue plaguing the South-West geographical zone.
“When Prof. Akintola came to us, he told us Yoruba people in the South-West have one problem,” he said. He predicted that a Christian from the region’s South West would emerge as the next leader, and that he would choose a Muslim from the North as his running partner. He claimed that “nothing like this had happened since Abiola’s day.”
El-Rufai continued by saying that Professor Akintola had informed them they wanted a Muslim from the South-West to win, and that El-Rufai had urged them to bring such a person, from which Tinubu eventually emerged as the party’s nominee. Because he (Tinubu) can’t win the election with a Northern Christian running mate, they expected him to choose a Muslim vice president instead.
To this he said, “And that was how Tinubu won.”
