Special adviser on public communications and media to President Bola Tinubu, Daniel Bwala, has downplayed the political relevance of the coalition spearheaded by former Kaduna State governor, Nasir el-Rufai, saying the movement has already lost momentum.
Bwala stated on Wednesday’s Focus Nigeria, which broadcast on AIT, that the project lacks grassroots connections and meaningful power.
“I know that the southern people generally have a sentiment that the north has done eight years. The south should be allowed to do eight years,” Bwala said.
“These southern people who have this sentiment are even in the political parties where northerners have contested. They will not vote for the northern candidate. They will vote for a southern candidate. And it is fair, just, and equitable.”
He opined that northern political clout is often misunderstood and overstated by spotlighting a few elites who do not truly represent the region.
“When we talk of the north, there are times there is a misconception. People identify five eggheads and call them the north. Some of them are disconnected from the source,” he said.
Without mentioning el-Rufai, Bwala referred to him as a former governor leading a coalition that “creates buzz”.
“I give you an example of a governor – a former governor that left us – and he’s moving a coalition, generating buzz, according to them,” stated the politician.
When the programme anchor asked if he meant el-Rufai, Bwala said, “Okay, yes.”
According to Bwala, el-Rufai’s political standing had declined even before he left office.
“Now, take, for example, some people from the south or elsewhere: when they see him talking, they will think as if he will move like a clap of thunder out of a blue sky,” he said.
“But in politics, those who look at politics – it’s called political science because it’s a science behind politics. You look at stats, you look at numbers, you look at trajectory, right?”
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Bwala emphasised the dwindling popularity and electoral losses in Kaduna during el-Rufai’s second term as evidence of his fading influence.
“In the second half of his term, when he was doing his second term, he was so unpopular that the APC lost three senate seats and a number of House of Representatives seats, and the president lost the election there,” he said.
“So, people won’t look at those. But political scientists, they look at those things as indices. And they know that this one is like Andrew Liver Salts.
“Even when he started, it was like that. Like he dropped Andrew Liver Salts, and then it calmed down. That’s what is happening. Nobody talks about him. Nobody looks for him.”
Bwala also mentioned that even within the coalition conversation, el-Rufai is being encouraged to return to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
“Even among the people who are talking about coalition now, he said he wants to move somewhere. They say, Come back to PDP,” he said.
Speaking on Tinubu’s popularity, Bwala dismissed opposition narratives suggesting otherwise.
“Now, the complaint they give, they will say the president is not popular. We went to Katsina with the president two weeks ago, roughly two weeks ago. From the airport to the city, people lined up,” he said.
