Ahead of the 2027 general elections, former Kaduna State Governor, Nasir El-Rufai, has declared that governors were not needed to defeat President Bola Tinubu.
El-Rufai spoke in reaction to the defection of high-profile politicians in Nigeria to the All Progressives Congress, (APC).
It is feared the defections will affect the coalition being formed to unseat the APC government.
However, while addressing journalists in Kano State, the Social Democratic Party, SDP, chieftain insisted that the people decide who wins elections and not politicians.
He said, “As far as I’m concerned, the defection of high-profile politicians is not the issue.
“These defections are good for headlines and to sell newspapers, but politically on the ground, if you don’t have the people, your profile means nothing.
"We want to return politics to the people, not to godfathers or so-called high-profile politicians.
“A governor has only one vote. Nigerians have millions. If the people say no, it’s over.
“Even the president had a sitting governor and still lost Lagos. I was governor of Kaduna State. I fought hard to deliver the president in my state, but I lost. Governors don’t determine election results — the people do.”