Former Lagos governor Bola Tinubu has appealed to Kaduna governor Nasir El-Rufai not to leave Nigeria after the 2023 elections.

The All Progressives Congress (APC) presidential candidate spoke on Saturday in Kaduna.

He addressed attendees at the seventh edition of KadInvest, an annual event organised by the Kaduna State Investment Promotion Agency.

Tinubu advised El-Rufai, a former FCT minister, not to “run away”, but to stay back and help to fix the country.

“Nigeria needs thinkers and doer. I’m openly begging Nasir El-Rufai not to run away for (an) additional degree.

“He’s going to Cairo (for) Ph.D…and everything. There are (a) lot of educated drelics (sic). We are not going to let you run away.

“Your vision, creativity and resiliency in turning a rotten situation to a bad one (sic) is necessary at this critical time.

“That is why we are why today”, the APC co-founder said in his speech.

Tinubu’s comment of making “a rotten situation to a bad one” has elicited reactions on social media.

In attendance at the event were El-Rufai, his Jigawa and Kebbi counterparts, Muhammad Abubakar and Atiku Bagudu, ex-Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) governor Lamido Sanusi, among others.

President Muhammadu Buhari was represented by the Minister of State, Industry, Trade and Investment, Maryam Katagum.

Sanusi, a former Kano Emir, delivered the keynote titled ‘Improving subnational resilience against global economic shocks’.