Reno Omokri, a strong supporter of President Bola Tinubu’s administration, has accused former Kaduna State governor Nasir El-Rufai of starting his attacks on ex-President Goodluck Jonathan after he selected Namadi Sambo as his Vice Presidential candidate in 2010.

Omokri’s comments were in response to El-Rufai’s claim that Labour Party (LP) presidential candidate, Peter Obi, had informed him that mercenaries were hired to dismantle the LP in the same way it was done to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). El-Rufai also mentioned that he no longer recognized the All Progressives Congress (APC) due to the party’s lack of internal democracy, noting that key organs like the National Executive Committee (NEC) and the Caucus had not met in the past two years.

In a speech in Abuja, El-Rufai accused the APC of straying from its founding principles.

Reacting on X, Omokri wrote: “Why did Peter Obi choose to make that statement on the same day those men met? The signs are clear. Peter Obi knows, as I do, that their intentions for Nigeria are rooted in state capture.

“Mr. Obi, like myself, was part of the Jonathan administration and knows that Nasir El-Rufai met President Jonathan at the Aso Rock Presidential Villa on Tuesday, May 11, 2010. After that meeting, El-Rufai began praising Jonathan and urged the then-acting President to contest the 2011 election, hoping to be named his Vice President.

“But four days later, on May 15, 2010, when Jonathan chose Namadi Sambo as his running mate instead, El-Rufai turned against him.

“Now, having been sidelined by this administration, El-Rufai is repeating his old tactics.

“I urge Nigerians to remind Nasir El-Rufai of his troubled past and make it clear that they will not tolerate a military coup simply because he was passed over for a ministerial role.”