Former senator and businessman Ben Murray-Bruce has shared details of a private conversation he had with President Bola Ahmed Tinubu before the 2023 presidential election, revealing that the president has so far lived up to his word.

Speaking in an interview with TVC News on Friday, Murray-Bruce recounted how he questioned Tinubu’s ability to manage a cabinet of over 40 ministers and still maintain economic efficiency.

“I asked him, ‘You’re going to have 36 ministers and ministers of state — how are you going to run the economy with over 40 people you don’t even know?’”

According to Murray-Bruce, Tinubu responded confidently, saying:

“I only need eight people to run Nigeria.”

The former lawmaker praised the president for sticking to his economic reform agenda, particularly on deregulation and currency unification.

“He chose the right people, and they have made a difference to the economy. He also shocked me on his first day in office when he said he would deregulate and float the currency,” Murray-Bruce noted.

He added that Tinubu’s decisions reflected the exact plans he had shared with him years earlier.

“Two years after my question to him, he did exactly what I asked him to do,” he said.

Murray-Bruce, who recently defected from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to the All Progressives Congress (APC), maintained that the president’s performance has justified his confidence in him.