Nigeria Newspapers Online

Former Kaduna State governor, Nasir El-Rufai, says his take on the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) would not be different if he were a member of President Bola Tinubu’s cabinet.

Speaking on Monday in Abuja at a national conference on strengthening democracy in Nigeria, El-Rufai had criticised the party for “straying away from its core values”.

“I am the founding member of the APC. But frankly, I no longer recognise the APC. No party organ has met in two years — no caucus, no NEC, nothing. I don’t even know if it is a one-man show. It is a zero-man show

@media only screen and (min-width: 992px){#div-vi-1716478739{width:728px !important;height:90px !important}}

“Although I’m a founding member, the party has left me behind. We wanted to build a progressive party that would fight corruption, revive the economy, and restore security for Nigerians. That was our goal. But where is the APC now? I no longer recognize it. It’s left me behind. I still believe the primary purpose of political engagement in Nigeria remains to fix the economy, restore security, and fight corruption. But those issues are still unresolved,” he said.

Reacting, Daniel Bwala, special adviser on policy communication to President Tinubu, had asked if El-Eufai would have expressed the same position if he were a cabinet member.

“My Senior brother, if you were to be in the government and cabinet, would you have held and expressed the same position? History is replete with examples. It is a government you participated in its formation, that you now want to unseat,” he said.

Responding to Bwala on Thursday morning in a post on X, the former FCT minister said: “I was cabinet minster 22 years ago, and was clear to Asiwaju that I was not interested in any position in his future government.

“The pathetic manner all of you latter-day converts to the Tinubu government make an issue of something that I never wanted in the first place is perhaps a reflection of the level of your moral flexibility.

“If I had remained in the Tinubu government, I will say or do the same on the tragedy within a party I was a founder, and the government that emerged from it – first in private sessions with those concerned, and then go public if no remedial actions are taken. Go and check my public service record from 1998.”