Former Kaduna State Governor, Nasir El-Rufai, has projected that the 2027 presidential election could end as a run-off.
Gatekeepers News reports that speaking on Channels Television’s Sunday Politics, El-Rufai warned that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu may not make it into the top two contenders.
The former Governor argued that no candidate will likely secure an outright majority in the first round of voting.
He 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.”
El-Rufai accused the current administration of banking on state resources and institutions to secure re-election, likening the situation to Goodluck Jonathan’s 2015 defeat.
He said, “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 this 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.”
The former Governor further disclosed that even if he had been cleared for ministerial appointment under Tinubu, he would have resigned, insisting that he no longer shared political alignment with the ruling party.
