Bashir El-Rufai urges Nigerians to join SDP to rescue country from ‘area boys’
On Friday, March 14, 2025, Bashir El-Rufai, the son of former Kaduna State Governor Nasir El-Rufai, called on Nigerians to join the Social Democratic Party (SDP) in order to “save the country from area boys.”
In a cryptic post on X, Bashir seemed to be referring to appointees from Lagos State, particularly those appointed by President Bola Tinubu. He wrote: “Join in saving this country from area boys.”
Bashir’s statement comes after his father, Nasir El-Rufai, defected from the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) to the SDP. El-Rufai had grown increasingly critical of the APC-led government under Tinubu, citing a growing disconnect between his values and the direction of the party.
El-Rufai had previously expressed concerns about President Tinubu’s appointments, specifically criticizing the president for appointing “his own boys” from Lagos rather than making decisions based on merit. He had stated, “The president’s appointments are not being made because the appointees are Yoruba, but because they are his own boys, and most of the appointments do not even reasonably cover the South-West.”
