Former Kaduna State Governor, Nasir El-Rufai, has ruled out the possibility of a political merger and instead encouraged key opposition figures, including former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, ex-Labour Party presidential candidate Peter Obi, and others, to join the Social Democratic Party (SDP).
Governor El-Rufai made this call after officially resigning from the All Progressives Congress (APC) on March 10, citing differences in values with the ruling party.
Speaking in an interview with BBC Hausa, the ex-Kaduna governor urged opposition leaders to unite under the SDP to challenge President Bola Tinubu in the 2027 elections.
He called on opposition heavyweights, including Atiku, Obi, and former Interior Minister Rauf Aregbesola, to join forces with him in SDP rather than forming a new party or merging with another.
“My wishes and prayers are Atiku Abubakar, Peter Obi, Rotimi Amaechi, Rauf, all opposition leaders to come and join SDP, not to do a merger or to register a new political party,” El-Rufai said.
Reflecting on his past support for Tinubu, he expressed disappointment in the President’s leadership.
“What pains me is that the government we supported and had confidence in would do well because we saw what Tinubu did in Lagos despite his challenges.
“We all know about his issues in Chicago, but we thought if he could replicate his work in Lagos for Nigeria, let’s support him. However, he failed,” he remarked.
As for his own presidential ambition in 2027, El-Rufai said the decision would ultimately rest with the party and the people.
“It is not for me to decide; it is the party and the people that will decide. Even when I was contesting for governor, it was people that met and convinced (Muhammadu) Buhari, and he called me and asked me to contest,” he explained.
Meanwhile, the Presidency has downplayed election concerns, insisting that Tinubu is more focused on improving Nigeria’s economy than on political maneuvering.
In a statement on Friday, Tinubu’s Special Adviser on Media and Public Communications, Bayo Onanuga, emphasized that the President’s priority is economic stability, not the next election.
He said, “President Tinubu is not worried about the next election. He’s worried about the shared prosperity that he can bring to Nigerians.
“He’s worried about how the reforms he has put in place will yield necessary impact. He is concerned about what happens to the economy of this country eventually. That’s the focus.
“We’ve seen our foreign reserves go up. We’ve seen inflation come down. We’ve seen our trade surplus go up. We’ve seen exports go up and imports drop. We’ve seen the investments that have been attracted -over 50 billion. We are seeing prices dropping.
“We have clear data and you have a President that is clearly in the driver’s seat, and he has stayed the course of the decisions he has taken. And I think that the next election is not really in his view right now.
“It’s how to make sure that at the end of his first term, he can sit back and say, look, “I have impacted the lives of Nigerians. I have turned this economy around”.
