El-Rufai suffering from ‘small man syndrome’ — Presidency

The presidency has taken a swipe at the former governor of Kaduna State, Nasir el-Rufai, over his recent comments criticising the administration of President Bola Tinubu.

In a post via X on Wednesday, the Special Adviser to President Tinubu on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, said El-Rufai was suffering from “small man syndrome.”

The immediate past governor of Kaduna State had, during an interview on Arise Television, stated that President Tinubu would require a miracle to secure re-election in 2027.

He claimed that a poll conducted by his group across various regions of the country, particularly in the South-East and the North, showed a 91 per cent disapproval rating for Tinubu.

According to him, the disapproval rating in Lagos stands at 78 per cent.

Responding to El-Rufai’s comments, Onanuga cited a remark made by former President Olusegun Obasanjo against El-Rufai in his three-part memoir, My Watch.

“El-Rufai’s penchant for reputation savaging is almost pathological. Why does he do it? Very early in my interaction with him, I appreciated his talent.

“At the same time, I recognised his weaknesses; the worst being his inability to be loyal to anybody or any issue consistently for long, but only to Nasir el-Rufai.

“He lied brazenly, which he did to me, against his colleagues and so-called friends. I have heard of how he ruthlessly savaged the reputation of his uncle, a man who, in an African setting, was like a foster father to him.

“I shuddered when I heard the story of what he did to his half-brother in the Air Force, who is senior to him in age,” Onanuga posted, quoting an excerpt from Obasanjo’s book.

In the memoir published in 2014, Obasanjo stated that el-Rufai is battling with the “small man syndrome.”