By Achadu Gabriel, Kaduna
Less than a week after former governor of Kaduna State, North-West Nigeria, Malam Nasir El-Rufai,exited the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) for the opposition Social Democratic Party (SDP), hoping to use the latter as springboard to oust APC from power in 2027, snippets of information have begun oozing out throwing light on some goings-on in the party.
According to a youth coalition within SDP, the former Minister of Federal Capital Territory (FCT) allegedly seeks to hijack the party for personal political ends.
Last Monday, El-Rufai announced that he had quit the APC, handing in his resignation letter to his ward chapter of the party, and almost immediately declared that he had berthed at SDP.
He justified his exit by accusing the APC and the President Bola Tinubu government of deviating from the party’s principles and objectives, adding,later, that the party had rendered top government appointments a cash-and-carry matter.
Furthermore, El-Rufai alleged that the Tinubu government preferred to hand existing top federal job openings to those from Lagos, where Tinubu was State governor from 1999-2007.
He also rallied major opposition politicians such as Peter Obi, presidential candidate of Labour Party (LP) in the 2023 elections; Atiku Abubakar, Obi’s opposite number in the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the same elections; Rotimi Amaechi, powerful Transport Minister in the immediate past federal administration of ex-President Muhammadu Buhari; Rauf Aregbesola, one-time close political pal of President Tinubu,both now estranged; and others to join the SDP and help push out Tinubu from office in 2027.
Since El-Rufai’s defection, some politicians,such as Major Hamza Al-Mustapha (rtd), had reportedly also boarded the SDP train, with rumour rather strong that more political heavyweights are set to decamp,thus sparking tension in the polity.
Nonetheless, the SDP youth coalition has roundly rejected El-Rufai’s defection, accusing him of attempting to hijack the party for personal political gains.
The group, known as the SDP Youths and Supporters Coalition, was outraged that a newcomer is about to take over the party’s machinery in a jiffy.
In a statement issued on Friday, the group, led by its president, Comrade Abdulsamad Bello, described El-Rufai as “unfit and morally unqualified” to be part of the SDP, citing what it called his “anti-democratic record” during his tenure as governor (2015-2023).
The group said: “We reject El-Rufai’s entrance into our party in its entirety. He has come not as a reformer but as an undertaker, seeking to bury the SDP before it even has the chance to grow.”
The coalition also criticized the party’s leadership for what it described as a “clandestine deal” that allowed El-Rufai’s defection, warning that his presence could destabilise the party.
“El-Rufai has never believed in democracy. His history of suppressing opposition voices, sidelining party members, and enforcing his will through coercion is well known,” Bello added.
“It is shocking that the leadership of our party would allow itself to be infiltrated by someone whose tenure in office was marked by impunity, authoritarianism, and disregard for democratic values.”
The former governor’s entry into the party has already sparked tensions. On Wednesday, his supporters staged a demonstration at the SDP national headquarters in Abuja, calling for the resignation of the party’s National Secretary, Olu Agunloye.
According to the youth coalition, this was evidence of El-Rufai’s attempt to seize control of the party’s leadership.
“Barely days after joining our party, El-Rufai is already pushing for a leadership change. He is demanding that Olu Agunloye resigns, even when the party has its own internal mechanisms for handling such matters. This is a clear sign of his desperation to control the SDP and mould it in his own image,” the statement added.
The group again accused El-Rufai of using the SDP as a platform for his personal political ambitions, particularly in light of his recent criticisms of President Tinubu and the APC.
“El-Rufai’s resignation from the APC and his calculated entry into the SDP is nothing but a desperate attempt to reinvent himself politically,” Bello noted.
“The same man who once insulted opposition leaders and dismissed them as irrelevant, is now seeking refuge in their midst. His hypocrisy knows no bounds”, the group stated.
