Retired Nigerian Army Major General Danjuma Hamisu Ali-Keffi has made startling revelations regarding the political maneuvers that preceded the 2023 presidential primary of the All Progressives Congress (APC). In an exclusive interview, the former General Officer Commanding 1 Division disclosed details involving intelligence agencies, political figures, and internal party dissent during the build-up to President Bola Tinubu's emergence as the party's standard-bearer.
The NFIU Confidential Records Allegation According to Ali-Keffi, the former Director of the Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU), Modibbo Hamman-Tukur, informed him that influential party figures opposed to Tinubu attempted to secure confidential records from United States government agencies prior to the primary election. The retired general stated that certain individuals allegedly accessed the NFIU director’s office without authorization to dispatch inquiries to American authorities concerning terrorism financing investigations linked to the then-candidate.
Ali-Keffi noted that Hamman-Tukur grew deeply concerned about these developments and visited his office during the early morning hours to report the breach. Subsequently, responses from the United States arrived, though Ali-Keffi emphasized that he remained unaware of the specific contents of those documents and clarified that the records did not establish any wrongdoing by Tinubu. He added that the NFIU officials allegedly involved were later dismissed, and the matter subsequently became the subject of legal proceedings.
The Role of Nasir El-Rufai and Party Dynamics The former GOC also implicated former Kaduna State Governor Nasir El-Rufai, stating that El-Rufai was fully aware of the communications originating from the United States. Despite having access to this material, El-Rufai reportedly opposed weaponizing the confidential information against Tinubu. Ali-Keffi credited El-Rufai's stance on national unity—specifically the argument that power needed to shift from the North to the South—as a decisive factor that kept the information out of the public domain and preserved Tinubu's viability as a presidential candidate.
Furthermore, Ali-Keffi recounted a conversation involving former Federal Inland Revenue Service Chairman Muhammad Nami and an unnamed, powerful minister close to former President Muhammadu Buhari. According to the account, the minister resisted Tinubu's candidacy out of concern that the former Lagos State governor would eventually target political opponents upon taking office. Despite these warnings, Nami and other party leaders prioritized regional power rotation.
Political Fallout and Current Stance Reflecting on the events leading up to the 2023 election, Ali-Keffi expressed profound disillusionment with the current political landscape. He stated that he now regrets casting his vote for Tinubu and firmly declared that he would not support the ruling party in future elections. While the retired general's claims highlight the intense behind-the-scenes lobbying and friction within the APC, the underlying allegations regarding the U.S. records rest primarily on second-hand accounts provided by former intelligence officials and remain unverified by independent documentation.