‘Presidential election’s outcome will shock El-Rufai,’ Bafarawa reacts to Kaduna governor’s

The former Sokoto State Governor, Attahiru Bafarawa, has slammed the Governor of Kaduna State, Nasir El-Rufai, for insisting that the All Progressives Congress (APC) presidential candidate, Ahmed Bola Tinubu, would win this month’s election.

El-Rufai, who has not hidden his support for Tinubu, declared boldly during the week that the former Lagos State governor would emerge as the country’s next president at the end of the month.

The governor claimed in a Channels Television’s programme, Sunrise Daily on Wednesday that some elements in the Presidential Villa are working against the APC candidate’s success in the election.

He noted that the individuals in question are still bitter over their candidate’s defeat in the APC presidential primary held in June last year.

El-Rufai said: “I believe there are elements in the Villa that want us to lose the election because they didn’t get their way; they had their candidate. Their candidate did not win the primaries.”

However, in an interview with the BBC Hausa Service on Saturday, Bafarawa argued that El-Rufai cannot assume that the entire North and all Nigerians are in support of Tinubu.

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) chieftain insisted that the governor would be surprised by the outcome of the election.

READ ALSO: ‘Peter Obi lacks support in Kano, Kaduna,’ El-Rufai dismisses LP chances in presidential poll

He said: “We see his comment as a disrespectful one. What he was supposed to speak on was how the north and the country at large could improve.

“Also, El-Rufai said he contested for election and was voted into office. If this is what he calls being an elderly person with dignity before he even contested, we contested and people voted for us.

“Therefore, we that he doesn’t see as elders with dignity will show him that elders exist in the north. Even if there are (elders who have no dignity), he should preach to them rather than generalise.

“Also, he came out and was proudly saying that Tinubu will win the election whether people like it or not. Who told him that the whole of the north are supporting the APC?

“It’s just his opinion. Therefore, he has no right to boast with the north because everyone has their own candidates. The way he is campaigning for Tinubu is how we are campaigning for our candidate.

“We will surprise them; we will show them that this country belongs to nobody, likewise the north.”

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