Presidency: El-Rufai describes Peter Obi as a Nollywood actor

The Kaduna State Governor, Nasiru El-Rufai, has described the Labour Party Presidential candidate, Peter Obi, as "a Nollywood actor".

El-Rufai made the comparison during an interview on TVC program, Journalists' Hangout, on Thursday, February 2, 2023.

The Kaduna Governor, who spoke on a wide range of issues of national concern in relation to the forthcoming general elections, maintained that his party, the All Progressives Congress (APC)'s presidential candidate, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, remains the man to beat in the election.

Recall that El-Rufai had earlier alleged that some elements in the Aso Rock Villa are working against Tinubu's ambition, a claim he also reiterated but refused to mention names.

Asked if the people behind the efforts to sabotage the party have been identified, El-Rufai answered in the affirmative but declined to unmask them, saying it's better to defeat them at the poll than to expose them now.

Speaking on the many opinion polls such as Blomberg, ANAP, and NOI polls that have predicted victory for Obi in the election, the Governor insisted that all of them are fundamentally flawed.

Explaining further, El-Rufai said, "The most important thing in looking at any opinion poll is the sample followed by the methodology. When you have about 100 million registered voters and you're sampling 2,000 0r 3,000 registered voters, I'm sorry your results from day one are unreliable. They will have very high margins of error. And most of these polls are like that.

'What about methodology? Most of these polls like the Blomberg one, the ANAP one, the Okonjo-Iweala one, all used telephone. What percentage of the INEC's voter register contains people whose phone numbers are in the INEC record? We've found, 31 percent.

So, from the beginning, you're starting from only 31 percent of the total sample of voters, so if you pick your sample out of that 31% from day one, your results are dead on arrival. Okay."

On Obi's chances in the election, El-Rufai said the poll conducted by the APC showed that the former Anambra State Governor is far behind Tinubu and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate, Atiku Abubakar, in the race.

He went on to describe Obi as a Nollywood actor, saying he can't score 25% of votes in more than 16 states of the federation.

El-Rufai's words: "How can Peter Obi win any election? Peter Obi is polling 1% in Sokoto, 2% in Katsina and 5% in Kano. That's where the votes are. All states are not equal. The fact that you're doing 70% in Anambra state doesn't mean somebody doing 10% in Kano isn't better than you. Kano is 4million votes that actually happen. Anambra is what? The number of votes in Anambra State is the size of one local government in Kaduna State.

"So all states are not equal. If you poll states and you make them equal. Yes, Peter Obi will sweep all the South-Eastern states, he will do well in South-South, where else? He's not polling well in South-West, other than a drop in the ocean in Lagos. His polling in the Christian enclaves in the North, he's polling well. But, how many are they?

"Peter Obi can't win the election. He doesn't have the number of states, he doesn't have 25% in more than 16 states. He can't go anywhere. Peter Obi a Nollywood actor, and that's all he will be."