Malam Nasir El-Rufai has admitted that he and other politicians supported President Bola Tinubu for the 2023 presidential election despite their knowledge of his Chicago State University academic records controversy.

The former Governor of Kaduna State in an interview with BBC they supported Tinubu’s presidential ambition with the belief that he would replicate his performance as Lagos State governor.

“What pains me is that the government we supported, and have confidence will do well. We know what Tinubu did in Lagos, we are all aware about his Chicago, but we said if he can do the same as he did that will make Lagos great, we will support him,” he said.

It would be recalled that after criticising Tinubu’s administration and the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), El-Rufai dumped the party for the Social Democratic Party (SDP) on March 10, 2025.

Since he joined the SDP, El-Rufai has been wooing other politicians to join him in the party to wrestle power from the APC in 2027.

As part of the scheming ahead of the 2027 election, the ex-governor recently met with Pastor Tunde Bakare and former Tinubu’s ally, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola.

El-Rufai has also urged former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar and Peter Obi, the Labour Party’s presidential candidate to join his new party.

Meanwhile, the former Kaduna Governor has addressed the speculation that his defection to the SDP is a ploy to contest for president in 2027.

Addressing the claim, El-Rufai said the decision lies not with him but with his party and the people.

“It is not for me to decide, it is the party and the people that will decide.

“Even when I was contesting for governor, it was people that met and convinced (Muhammadu) Buhari, and he called me and asked me to contest,” he said.