2023: El-Rufai mocks Obi, calls him a Nollywood actor, who cannot win

Our reporter| Kaduna state governor, Nasir el-Rufai, on Thursday dismissed the chances of Peter Obi winning this month’s presidential election.

El-Rufai who made the disclosure in an interview with TVC, said Obi, the candidate of the Labour Party (LP), does not have the necessary support across all states to win the presidential election.

He described the LP candidate as a “Nollywood actor”, who can only expect significant votes from the south-east and south-south, but not from the north and south-west.

“We are ahead. How can Peter Obi win any election? Peter Obi is polling one percent in Sokoto; two percent in Katsina; five percent in Kano. That’s where the votes are. All states are not equal,” he said.

“The fact that you’re doing 70 percent in Anambra state does not mean somebody doing 10 percent in Kano is not better than you. Kano is four million votes that actually happen. The number of votes in Anambra is the size of one local government area in Kaduna state. So, all states are not equal.

“If you poll states and you make them equal, yes, Peter Obi will sweep the south-eastern states; he will do well in south-south; where else? He’s not polling well in the south-west other than a drop in the ocean in Lagos. He’s polling in the Christian enclaves in the north, he’s polling well, but how many are they?

“Peter Obi cannot win the election. He doesn’t have the number of states; he doesn’t have 25 percent, the last time we checked, in more than 16 states. He can’t go anywhere.

“Peter Obi is a Nollywood actor and that’s all he will be. This election is between the APC and PDP because they have the footprint; they have the spread. Ethnicity and religious bigotry will not take you anywhere and that’s what the Labour Party campaign is about.

“We are the only party with a candidate with a broad-based support across Nigeria, and by the grace of God, we are going to win.”

This is not first time the Kaduna state governor will ridicule Obi’s campaign.

In August 2022, El-Rufai, stirred controversy when he criticised a claim by a Twitter user that about two million people would march in Kaduna in support of Peter Obi.

He tweeted that Obi would be lucky to have 200 persons participating in the support march in Kaduna.

In his tweet, Mr El-Rufai noted that even if the LP “imports” supporters from south-east states for the march, Mr Obi would not get the number.

“In Kaduna? Not Kaduna Twitter? – 😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂 I hope you get Two Hundred persons on the streets, including those ‘imports’ that can’t open their shops on Mondays, and came on overnight bus last night!!

But El-Rufai was proved wrong when thousands eventually marched for Obi in Kaduna late last year.

“I jus’ dey laff, wallahi tallahi!! – @KadunaResident,” the Kaduna governor posted.

At the time of this report, Mr El-Rufai’s comment had garnered over 1,500 retweets, almost 4,000 likes and over 2,000 comments on Twitter.