Borno South Senator, Ali Ndume has made some revelations on the strained relationship between former Kaduna State governor, Nasir El-Rufai and President Bola Tinubu.
NATIONAL POST reports that since El-Rufai left the All Progressives Congress, APC, he has been one of the vociferous critics of the Tinubu administration.
On Monday, he described the Tinubu government as a tragedy and evil, vowing to remove him by 2027.
He is now a chieftain of the Social Democratic Party, SDP, and a leading member of the coalition of opposition politicians.
However, Ndume, during an interview on Arise News on Tuesday, said El-Rufai was suffering the consequences of betraying former Rivers State governor, Romiti Amaechi.
He said the former Kaduna governor’s sudden shift of support to Tinubu, after he had accepted to work for Amaechi prior to the APC presidential primary, was responsible for his current predicament.
According to Ndume, "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 [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..."
During the same interview, Ndumw also hinted that he could leave the All Progressives Congress, APC, if President Bola Tinubu does not fix things in Nigeria.
"If I decide to leave the APC, I will not to hide it.
"I still believe President Tinubu can fix things. Failure to fix those things may cause me to leave the APC.
"If Tinubu continues this way, it doesn't matter if he loads more people or governors, you are just endangering APC.
"When you overload a ship, it might lead to the capsizing of the party," Ndume said.