El-Rufai says he met Oshiomhole, Akande to complain about APC’s failure to uphold core principles
Former Kaduna State Governor, Nasir El-Rufai, has revealed that he once held a private meeting with prominent All Progressives Congress (APC) leaders — Senator Adams Oshiomhole, Chief Bisi Akande, and Senator Abdullahi Adamu — to express his deep concerns over what he described as the party’s deviation from its original vision.
In an interview with Deutsche Welle Hausa in Katsina, El-Rufai explained that his attempt to raise red flags about the party’s internal collapse was ignored by its top brass, ultimately prompting his recent defection to the Social Democratic Party (SDP).
“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,” El-Rufai disclosed.
“So, if it has changed, then should you stay in what you are not okay with?”
“The party left me” – El-Rufai
El-Rufai, a founding member of the APC, lamented that the party’s core organs failed to meet for two years, describing the development as a clear sign of broken internal democracy.
“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,” he said.
He added that he tried to “bring the party back on track,” but was met with silence and indifference.
“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.”
Defection to SDP
El-Rufai officially joined the Social Democratic Party (SDP) earlier this month, stating that the platform aligns more closely with the progressive values and ideology the APC was originally built on.
His departure adds to the growing list of political heavyweights expressing disillusionment with the APC’s direction — especially ahead of the 2027 general elections.
