A former governor of Kaduna State, Nasir El-Rufai, has accused President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s administration of incompetence, nepotism and betrayal of the founding ideals of the All Progressives Congress (APC)....CONTINUE READING THE ARTICLE FROM THE SOURCE>>>

El-Rufai, who recently dumped the APC for the Social Democratic Party (SDP), alleged that Nigeria had been moving backwards since Tinubu assumed office on May 29, 2023.

He made the allegation during an interview with Deutsche Welle Hausa in Katsina. El-Rufai was in Katsina on Monday, but the video of the interview was released Tuesday.

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El-Rufai, once a close ally of President Tinubu and a key figure in the APC’s electoral victories in 2015, 2019 and 2023, now presents himself as one of the fiercest critics of the administration, alleging that what the APC has become is a far cry from what its founders envisioned.

According to the ex-governor, the country is worse off today in terms of insecurity, economy and governance than it was under previous administrations.

‘Country retrogressing’

El-Rufai alleged that the Tinubu-led administration was the most intolerant since the return to democracy in 1999.

He also accused Tinubu’s administration of being insensitive to the plight of ordinary Nigerians.

“Ever since the assumption of office of Tinubu as Nigeria’s president, the country has begun to go backwards. Insecurity has increased, the economy is dwindling, affluent people are now poor, and ethnic profiling is on the rise.

“Whoever he is giving an appointment to must be someone he knows or from his tribe. They can dismiss that, but Nigerians are not stupid. There is no way your name is this, and they will say no, you are from Katsina,” he stated.

‘APC no longer represents justice, equity’

“This kind of injustice, ethnic profiling, and theft that we are seeing is not what APC was built on. What we planned when we started building APC was a platform for justice, equity, competence, and national integration. But today, we see nothing but sheer injustice, nepotism, and disregard for those ideals,” El-Rufai said.

He explained that those were the reasons behind his decision to join the SDP which he described as a party that would “rescue the masses from injustice.”

“So, whoever his party cheated or did something he felt was not right, the only party he sees is the SDP. So, don’t be surprised by the kind of people you see in this room and others that are not here—we are working together in broad daylight and midnight doing what we should do to strategise in order to salvage our people from what this government has put us through,” he stated.

Responding to concerns that his journey with the SDP could end up like his earlier alliance with the APC, El-Rufai insisted that it was the APC that strayed from its founding ideals, not him.

“I did not leave APC; it’s the party that left me. Since Bola Tinubu became president, the country has started to go backwards. We told them what they are doing is not good, and they are always behaving like nobody can tell them anything.

“Even when they deny the allegation of nepotism, people are not blind or stupid. When they see the names, they know where they come from,” he said.

El-Rufai recalled meeting with APC leaders like Bisi Akande, Adams Oshiomhole and Abdullahi Adamu to tell them that the party had deviated from its founding vision.

“I met with Bisi Akande, Adams Oshiomhole and Abdullahi Adamu, and I asked them if this was what we had planned for the people when we started and registered our party. And they said it has changed.

“So, if it has changed, then should you stay in what you are not okay with? I spoke with leaders that we should come back to the radar, but they shunned us away,” he said.

He said the fact that the APC refused to convene meetings for two years demonstrated the party’s leadership’s disregard for internal democracy and collective decision-making.

“That is why I said it is the party that left me, so I have to look for a party that shares similarity with the kind of ideology we had when 37 of us signed for the registration of the APC. I am among them. I am a founding father.

“But even if it is a child you gave birth to and he went wayward and you tried your best to bring him back on track and he refused, then you let him be. I have sworn off APC and left it with the world,” he said.

‘Ruling party only remembered Buhari after my defection’

El-Rufai also reacted to the recent visit by APC National Working Committee members to former President Muhammadu Buhari, alleging that it was an afterthought motivated by political desperation.

“Is it not the same Ganduje that called Buhari ‘Habu na Habu’ (a derogatory Hausa name)? Is it now that he knows Buhari is important?

“Since when Buhari left government, how many times did they go to him seeking for a single piece of advice? It is when they heard that I went to Buhari and I left the APC. And I told him before I left. I didn’t go to him to ask him to come to SDP or seek his permission to leave the party—I am 65 years old. I only went to tell him that this party has changed, and I want to leave it.

“Two days later, I left. It was after I left that they remembered that Buhari is important. What took them was that they understood that Atiku Abubakar went with us to pay Sallah homage; that’s all, and they went running at midnight, denying an old man sleep and disturbing him,” he added.

‘SDP building nationwide momentum’

El-Rufai said the SDP was rapidly gaining support across the country because many Nigerians had grown tired of both the APC and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

He added that the SDP was preparing a movement that would “rock the foundation of the country” and return power to the people.

“Every state you go to, you see people queuing, trying to get SDP tickets because they are tired of the injustice of these old parties — PDP and APC. And people have seen the kind of leaders coming to the SDP. They are positive that justice will be served and people will be held accountable. They believe they will be saved from hunger, poverty, and all the ills we are facing today in this country.

“Everywhere, not only in Katsina. My chairman, Bello Safana, when he goes to his office, doesn’t leave until late in the night because of the kind of people trooping in. It is the same everywhere—in Kaduna, Niger, Borno, Gombe. Everywhere it’s like that. People are tired,” he alleged.

The former governor said many Nigerians still remembered what he and others did in the past and believed in their capacity to effect positive change.

“Some of us are all aware of what we did in the past, and they know what we can do. That’s why, God willing, with the prayers of the masses, a storm is coming that will wipe off the entire country.

“All these bad leaders will go back to their villages, and SDP will form the federal government and many state governments and will come with a new form of leadership that caters to the poor,” he said.

El-Rufai’s past criticisms of Tinubu and APC

El-Rufai, whose ministerial nomination in 2023 was blocked by his opponents within the ruling APC, recently became a vocal critic of both the party and Tinubu’s administration.

At a democracy conference in Abuja in January, he had accused the Tinubu government of undermining democracy and attempting to weaken the opposition.

Following his defection to the SDP in March, El-Rufai revisited the controversy surrounding Tinubu’s academic records, saying he and other politicians were aware of the issues before the 2023 elections but supported him in the hope he would replicate his performance in Lagos.

“What pains me is that the government we supported and had confidence in would do well because we saw what Tinubu did in Lagos despite his challenges. We all knew about his issues in Chicago, but we thought if he could replicate his work in Lagos for Nigeria, let’s support him. However, he failed,” he said.

On 15 March, El-Rufai criticised the administration’s handling of the political crisis in Rivers State, particularly the suspension of Governor Siminalayi Fubara and other elected officials.

“In a statement on his X handle, he, at that time, described the president’s action as “wanton aggression against democratic tenets and the rule of law.”

“There are things that are so clearly wrong that the justifications summoned in their defence fall flat. The decision of Mr. President to suspend the elected officials of the Rivers State Government is one of those,” he wrote.

Presidency mum

When contacted to react to the allegations by El-Rufai, the Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, told Daily Trust “I need to read El-Rufai’s statement first…CONTINUE READING>>