The immediate past governor of Kaduna State, Nasir el-Rufai, has responded sharply to Daniel Bwala, the Special Adviser to President Bola Tinubu on Policy Communication, after Bwala took issue with his recent criticism of the All Progressives Congress (APC).
El-Rufai, speaking at a national conference on strengthening democracy in Nigeria held in Abuja, had expressed deep dissatisfaction with the APC, claiming that the party had strayed far from its original values.
“I am a founding member of the APC. But frankly, I no longer recognize 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,” he said.
In response to El-Rufai’s remarks, Bwala questioned whether the former Federal Capital Territory (FCT) minister would have shared the same sentiments had he been part of Tinubu’s cabinet. Bwala, who noted that El-Rufai’s ministerial clearance was withheld by the Senate in August 2023 due to security concerns, suggested that the former governor might be motivated by personal grievances.
El-Rufai, undeterred by Bwala’s comments, took to social media to defend his position. “The pathetic manner in which 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,” he said in a post on X.
El-Rufai further elaborated, asserting that had he remained in Tinubu’s government, he would still have voiced his concerns about the state of the party.
“If I had remained in the Tinubu government, I would have said or done the same on the tragedy within a party I founded, and the government that emerged from it—first in private sessions with those concerned, and then go public if no remedial actions are taken,” he added.
