Presidential spokesman, Bayo Onanuga, yesterday slammed the immediate past Kaduna State Governor, Nasir El-Rufai, for delivering scathing criticism of the Bola Tinubu government.

Speaking in an interview with Arise TV, El-Rufai said Tinubu would require a miracle to win re-election in 2027.

According to him a poll conducted by his group in the regions, particularly in the South East and North showed a 91 per cent disapproval rating for Tinubu. The former Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) added that the disapproval rating in Lagos stood at 78 per cent.

However, Onanuga fired back yesterday through his X handle, referencing a remark made by former President Olusegun Obasanjo in his three-part memoir — ‘My Watch’ — against El-Rufai. According to him, El-Rufai is always trying to elevate himself, giving the impression of having more “height” than he actually does.

Onanuga posted an excerpt from Obasanjo’s book: “Nasir’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 socalled 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.” In the memoir published in 2014 Obasanjo said El-Rufai is battling from the “small man syndrome”.

El-Rufai is one of the opposition political leaders organising a coalition to unseat Tinubu in the 2027 presidential election. In March, El-Rufai resigned his membership of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and joined the Social Democratic Party (SDP).