In a move that has sent ripples through Nigeria’s political landscape, President Bola Tinubu has officially congratulated former Kaduna State Governor Nasir Ahmad El-Rufai on his 65th birthday. Despite the well-documented and bitter feud that has simmered between the two political heavyweights, Tinubu’s congratulatory message appears as an unexpected gesture of magnanimity—a signal perhaps that, beneath the fierce rhetoric, there still exists a thread of mutual respect and historical collaboration.
Both Tinubu and El-Rufai have played pivotal roles in the evolution of modern Nigerian politics, particularly as founding members of the All Progressives Congress (APC). Their collaboration during the formative years of the party was instrumental in the electoral victories of 2015, 2019, and 2023—a period that reshaped the political architecture of Nigeria.