Pro-Tinubu group answers 12 questions attributed to El-Rufai

A group called The National Patriots has published detailed answers to 12 questions about President Bola Tinubu's record, questions that have been circulating publicly and are widely attributed to former Kaduna State governor Nasir El-Rufai. The group said the authorship of the questions remains unverified.

The response, signed by the group's president Princess Gloria Adebajo-Fraser, was published on Tuesday. It defends the administration's reforms and ends with an open call for Nigerians to vote for Tinubu again in 2027.

Here is what the group said on the main issues Nigerians are asking about.

Subsidy savings and the cost of living

On fuel subsidy, the group said an August 2026 fiscal assessment estimated N15.8 trillion in savings. It said the Federal Government's share was N5.43tn, states got N6.52tn and local governments N3.88tn.

The group said the money is not kept in a separate subsidy-savings account. Instead, it said the money created room for spending on roads, rail, student loans (N223.8bn), mortgage support (N150bn), consumer credit (N50bn), health, education, wages and higher monthly allocations to states and councils.

On poverty, it said more than N600bn in cash transfers has reached over 10 million vulnerable households since 2023, according to the humanitarian affairs minister. It also pointed to five new regional development commissions and about N749.7bn in net allocations to seven North-West states in the first half of 2026.

The group urged states and councils to turn the larger allocations into schools, clinics, roads and jobs, and said citizens should demand budgets and project records.

Power, security and jobs

On electricity, the group said Tinubu's 2022 campaign remark that Nigerians should not re-elect him if he failed to fix power was a figure of speech, not a literal instruction. It said the Electricity Act he signed in June 2023 has allowed states to run their own electricity markets, with 15 states taking up that role by May 2026 and Gombe following later.

It listed projects including Abia's 188MW Geometric plant serving nine councils around Aba, and Lagos and Edo plants targeting operations from December 2026. The group said legal reform is not the same as steady supply, and that delivery now rests with states and their private partners.

On insecurity, it said negotiations with armed groups predated this administration, including during El-Rufai's time as Kaduna governor. It said Defence Minister General Christopher Musa (rtd) has publicly opposed negotiating with bandits and paying ransoms. The group said rescue operations depend on intelligence, terrain and the safety of hostages, and that different tactics do not mean some Nigerian lives matter less.

On jobs, it said the 3 Million Technical Talent programme has trained over 135,000 Nigerians, registered 1.8 million and helped create about 15,000 career opportunities. It noted that these are not necessarily permanent jobs.

On food, it cited the N200bn Bank of Agriculture guaranteed minimum price scheme announced in September 2026, targeting 500,000 farmers and 11.5 million households, and a $500m World Bank-backed irrigation programme.

On the Ajaokuta–Kaduna–Kano gas pipeline, it said the NNPC reported about 95 per cent completion in August 2026 after delays caused by insecurity, flooding, difficult terrain and failed Chinese financing.

The group said it rates Tinubu's performance at 85 per cent, with the remaining 15 per cent lost to bureaucracy and to states and councils not turning allocations into visible improvements.

El-Rufai has not publicly confirmed that the questions are his, and neither he nor the presidency has responded to the group's answers.