Special Adviser to the President on Media and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, has described those calling for the removal of President Bola Tinubu from office as “power-hungry politicians” who feel politically displaced.
He spoke against the backdrop of comments of former Kaduna State governor, Mallam Nasir el-ERufai, that the President would not be re-elected in 2027.
The former Kaduna governor had, in an interview on Channels Television’s Politics programme on Sunday night, said: “I was governor of Kaduna State; I was one of Bola Tinubu’s biggest campaigners, but I couldn’t deliver the state to him. Bola Tinubu himself couldn’t win his state with his own governor in place. So, these things are not as theoretical as people want them to be.
“If you want to engage in self-delusion, you are free to do so. I will not tell you how we are going to win, but I tell you very clearly, the worst-case scenario in the 2027 elections is that no winner will emerge in the first round.
“We may have to go for a runoff, and Bola Tinubu will not be on the ballot for the runoff because he will, at best, be third in the election. He has no pathway to win. I have done the maths, I have done the analysis; he cannot, he will, at best, be third.
“But he can deceive himself; he may think, oh, you know, I have money, because they have taken all the money in the country, I have INEC, I have the police, I have the army. You know what, President Tinubu, invite ex-President Goodluck Jonathan for a chat, and ask him if he didn’t have all these in 2015, and we got him out. Is the case still the same? Similar to 2015? It’s worse.
“It’s like those who say Tinubu has never lost an election. That can be contested, but it’s okay, he’s a political strategist, he’s this, he’s that. Wait.
“I naturally have said, if you want to learn some lessons, invite ex-President Goodluck Jonathan for a chat over coffee, and ask him what happened in 2015. That’s all.’’
But reacting yesterday, Onanuga, in a statement via his X handle, accused el-Rufai of being at the forefront of the campaign of removing the President, despite admitting in the past that four years was not enough for any leader to deliver “meaningful changes.”
He said: “Nasir El-Rufai confesses here that four years is not enough for a political office holder to make ‘meaningful changes’. Yet he is at the forefront of the gang of political desperados plotting President Tinubu’s ouster, just two years into his tenure. What a contradiction!
“In contrast to the political laggards and underachievers who were once governors in Anambra, Rivers and Kaduna states, President Tinubu and his team have implemented meaningful changes in our country over the past two years, positioning us on the path of prosperity.’’
He argued that Tinubu’s administration had achieved significant progress within two years, citing increased foreign reserves, growth in the stock market, harmonisation of the exchange rate, and four consecutive months of inflation decline.
“Phenomenal wealth creation in the stock market has seen ASI skyrocket from 53,000 points to over 140,000 points. Over N26 trillion in additional wealth has been created in the market under Tinubu’s watch,” he said.
Onanuga also pointed to reforms in education and social welfare, including student loans through NELFUND and cash transfers to vulnerable households.
He added that states and local governments were receiving more funds from the centre, enabling them to embark on capital projects and create jobs.
“The governors said they have never had it so good,” he noted, insisting that those behind the alleged plot were acting out of desperation.
He wrote further: “Yet, these power-hungry politicians want the President, who has achieved so much, to be removed, all because they have become politically displaced and irrelevant. May they never succeed in their plot against our nation and people.’’
The presidential spokesman said El-Rufai’s past comments would be used against him during political campaigns.
“Please save the video. We shall confront Nasir with it when electioneering starts,” Onanuga noted..
