Businessman Mr Yusuf returned to the party over the weekend, just 48 hours after he quit his position, saying he had made an “error”.
Speaking in Port Talbot on Monday, Mr Farage said: “Let’s be clear, I think Zia’s done a great job.
“Under enormous pressure, and by the way, a level of abuse – racist abuse online – unlike I think anybody in modern politics has ever had to put up with.
“He made a mistake, he got it wrong. It plunged us for a few hours into a difficult place.
“He expressed his regret to me, I forgave him. I did say ‘don’t do it again’, but I forgave him.”
Mr Farage went on to say that Mr Yusuf is coming back “into a very very big job”.
“Would I rather those couple of days hadn’t happened? Yes. But look how quickly and effectively we have dealt with it,” he added.
Mr Yusuf’s departure followed an internal row, in which he described a question asked to the Prime Minister by the party’s newest MP, Sarah Pochin, about banning the burka as “dumb”.
Announcing his resignation on Thursday afternoon, he said: “I no longer believe working to get a Reform government elected is a good use of my time, and hereby resign the office.”
Mr Yusuf said at the weekend that his decision to stand down had been due to “exhaustion” after working for 11 months “without a day off”.
He said he had been left feeling undervalued by some in the party and drained after being subjected to relentless racist abuse on X, and made the comments in “error”.
“I spoke to Nigel and said I don’t mind saying I made an error. It was a function of exhaustion,” he told the Sunday Times.
Asked about the row over talk of banning the burka, Mr Yusuf said he “certainly did not resign because I have any strong views about the burka itself” but felt blindsided by Ms Pochin’s question to Sir Keir Starmer.
Mr Farage told the same newspaper that Mr Yusuf will now effectively be doing “four jobs” for the party, although his title is yet to be decided.
Mr Yusuf will lead Reform’s plans to cut public spending – the so-called “UK Doge”, based on the US Department of Government Efficiency, which was led by tech billionaire Elon Musk.
The former chairman will also take part in policymaking, fundraising and media appearances.
