The Northern Nigeria Minorities Group (NNMG) has dismissed the allegations made by former Kaduna State Governor Mallam Nasir El-Rufai, claiming that there is a plot for President Bola Tinubu to seek a life presidency.

During a courtesy visit from former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, a former Minister of the Federal Capital Territory urged Nigerians to remain cautious and alert. He alleged that President Tinubu may attempt to extend his time in office beyond 2031.In response, Chief Jacob Edi, the Convener of the Northern Nigeria Minorities Group, issued a statement accusing El-Rufai of harboring malice, bitterness, and frustration towards the current administration.

While appealing to Nigerians to disregard Nasir El-Rufai remarks as cheap blackmail, the Forum described his outburst as “nothing more than sour grapes from a man who feels sidelined and irrelevant.”

The statement read in part:” The Northern Nigeria Minorities Group (NNMG) condemns in the strongest possible terms the reckless allegation by former Kaduna State Governor, Mallam

Nasir El-Rufai, suggesting that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu intends to extend his tenure beyond the constitutionally guaranteed eight years.“It is our well considered view that the former governor, now effectively one of Nigeria’s content creators, is talking simply out of malice, pure bitterness, recklessness, frustration and an affront to democracy.

“A critical analysis of the former governor’s political trajectory shows a character trait of a man at war with himself.

“El-Rufai’s Real Problem is Bitterness, Not Principle – We ask a simple question:

if El-Rufai had been appointed into President Tinubu’s ministerial team, would he still be making these wild allegations? Everyone knows the answer.

His rant is nothing more than sour grapes from a man who feels sidelined and irrelevant.

“From his days in government to his endless political scheming, El-Rufai has shown himself as a man addicted to betrayal and blackmail.

He thrives on heating up the polity with lies when

his personal ambitions are not served.”

The Forum maintained that the alarm raised on Tinubu’s elongation plot was nothing more than cheap blackmail.

“Nigeria’s 1999 Constitution is crystal clear on the tenure of a President. “No amount of El-Rufai’s propaganda can alter that reality.

His attempt to drag the country into a needless fear-mongering is both treacherous and dangerous.

“At a time when Nigeria needs unity, focus, and healing, El-Rufai has once again positioned himself as a destabilizing agent.

“His words are not those of a statesman but of a bitter man desperate to remain in the headlines.”

The Forum called on the former Minister of the FCT to “retract his lies and tender an apology to Nigerians for deliberately trying to poison the political atmosphere.”

“The minorities of Northern Nigeria will resist any attempt, whether by tenure elongation or by bitter politicians sowing confusion, to derail our democracy.

Nigeria’s future is too important to be held hostage by one man’s bitterness or a conspiracy of political elite group of profiteers.”