2027 election: Why Atiku named El-Rufai deputy campaign chairman — Dele Momodu
Dele Momodu, a chieftain of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), has explained why former Kaduna State Governor Nasir El-Rufai was named deputy chairman of Atiku Abubakar’s 2027 presidential campaign council despite being in detention.
Momodu, who is also a member of the campaign structure, said the appointment was partly a recognition of what he described as El-Rufai’s political sacrifice and his continued influence in Northern Nigeria, particularly the Northwest.
He spoke in an interview with Channels Television’s Morning Brief on Friday, a day after Atiku, the ADC presidential candidate, unveiled his campaign council with Kashim Ibrahim-Imam as chairman and El-Rufai as deputy chairman.
Explaining the appointment, Momodu said it was intended to honour El-Rufai amid his current travails, which he described as political in nature. “It is a way of honouring his sacrifice because his travails, I can say, are quite political in nature. But I am very happy that ADC found it necessary to put him on that list,” he said.
Momodu also described El-Rufai as a “prisoner of conscience”, alleging that his detention was politically motivated. He said the former governor’s current situation should be viewed against his previous political contributions, including his role in the process that led to President Bola Tinubu’s emergence in 2023.
“He is in the hands of a government that he helped to midwife,” Momodu said, adding that El-Rufai could have remained outside Nigeria but chose to return despite knowing he might be arrested.
“He could have stayed away from the country. He chose to come back to the country. He knew he was going to be arrested, and he was arrested,” he said.
Momodu maintained that El-Rufai remained politically relevant despite controversies surrounding his tenure as governor, describing him as one of the prominent political figures from Northern Nigeria, particularly the Northwest.
