The special adviser to President Bola Tinubu on information and strategy, Bayo Onanuga, has berated the former governor of Kaduna State, Nasir El-Rufai, over his recent comments against the incumbent administration.

El-Rufai, during an interview on Arise News, claimed Tinubu would require a miracle to secure re-election in 2027.

According to him, a poll conducted by his group in various regions, particularly in the south-east and north, showed a 91 per cent disapproval rating for the president.

However, in a post on X, Onanuga stated that El-Rufai is battling “small man syndrome.”

He referenced a remark by former President Olusegun Obasanjo in his three-part memoir, My Watch, against El-Rufai.

Onanuga said the former Kaduna governor is always trying to elevate himself, giving the impression of having more “height” than he actually does.

“Nasir’s penchant for reputation savaging is almost pathological. Why does he do it? Very early in my interaction with him, I appreciated his talent,” Onanuga posted excerpt from Obasanjo’s book.

“At the same time, I recognised his weaknesses; the worst being his inability to be loyal to anybody or any issue consistently for long, but only to Nasir el-Rufai.

“He lied brazenly, which he did to me, against his colleagues and so-called friends. I have heard of how he ruthlessly savaged the reputation of his uncle, a man who, in an African setting, was like a foster father to him.

“I shuddered when I heard the story of what he did to his half-brother in the Air Force, who is senior to him in age”.

In the memoir published in 2014, Obasanjo said El-Rufai is battling the “small man syndrome.”