Nigeria making no progress under Tinubu, says El-Rufai

A former governor of Kaduna State, Nasir El-Rufai, has accused President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s administration of incompetence, nepotism and betrayal of the founding ideals of the All Progressives Congress (APC).

El-Rufai, who recently dumped the APC for the Social Democratic Party (SDP), alleged that Nigeria had been moving backwards since Tinubu assumed office on May 29, 2023.

He made the allegation during an interview with Deutsche Welle Hausa in Katsina. El-Rufai was in Katsina on Monday, but the video of the interview was released Tuesday.

El-Rufai, once a close ally of President Tinubu and a key figure in the APC’s electoral victories in 2015, 2019 and 2023, now presents himself as one of the fiercest critics of the administration, alleging that what the APC has become is a far cry from what its founders envisioned.

According to the ex-governor, the country is worse off today in terms of insecurity, economy and governance than it was under previous administrations.

‘Country retrogressing’

El-Rufai alleged that the Tinubu-led administration was the most intolerant since the return to democracy in 1999.

He also accused Tinubu’s administration of being insensitive to the plight of ordinary Nigerians.

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“Ever since the assumption of office of Tinubu as Nigeria’s president, the country has begun to go backwards. Insecurity has increased, the economy is dwindling, affluent people are now poor, and ethnic profiling is on the rise.

“Whoever he is giving an appointment to must be someone he knows or from his tribe. They can dismiss that, but Nigerians are not stupid. There is no way your name is this, and they will say no, you are from Katsina,” he stated.

‘APC no longer represents justice, equity’

“This kind of injustice, ethnic profiling, and theft that we are seeing is not what APC was built on. What we planned when we started building APC was a platform for justice, equity, competence, and national integration. But today, we see nothing but sheer injustice, nepotism, and disregard for those ideals,” El-Rufai said.

He explained that those were the reasons behind his decision to join the SDP which he described as a party that would “rescue the masses from injustice.”

“So, whoever his party cheated or did something he felt was not right, the only party he sees is the SDP. So, don’t be surprised by the kind of people you see in this room and others that are not here—we are working together in broad daylight and midnight doing what we should do to strategise in order to salvage our people from what this government has put us through,” he stated.

Responding to concerns that his journey with the SDP could end up like his earlier alliance with the APC, El-Rufai insisted that it was the APC that strayed from its founding ideals, not him.

“I did not leave APC; it’s the party that left me. Since Bola Tinubu became president, the country has started to go backwards. We told them what they are doing is not good, and they are always behaving like nobody can tell them anything.

“Even when they deny the allegation of nepotism, people are not blind or stupid. When they see the names, they know where they come from,” he said.

El-Rufai recalled meeting with APC leaders like Bisi Akande, Adams Oshiomhole and Abdullahi Adamu to tell them that the party had deviated from its founding vision.

“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.

“So, if it has changed, then should you stay in what you are not okay with? I spoke with leaders that we should come back to the radar, but they shunned us away,” he said.

He said the fact that the APC refused to convene meetings for two years demonstrated the party’s leadership’s disregard for internal democracy and collective decision-making.

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“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.

“But 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,” he said.

‘Ruling party only remembered Buhari after my defection’

El-Rufai also reacted to the recent visit by APC National Working Committee members to former President Muhammadu Buhari, alleging that it was an afterthought motivated by political desperation.

“Is it not the same Ganduje that called Buhari ‘Habu na Habu’ (a derogatory Hausa name)? Is it now that he knows Buhari is important?

“Since when Buhari left government, how many times did they go to him seeking for a single piece of advice? It is when they heard that I went to Buhari and I left the APC. And I told him before I left. I didn’t go to him to ask him to come to SDP or seek his permission to leave the party—I am 65 years old. I only went to tell him that this party has changed, and I want to leave it.

“Two days later, I left. It was after I left that they remembered that Buhari is important. What took them was that they understood that Atiku Abubakar went with us to pay Sallah homage; that’s all, and they went running at midnight, denying an old man sleep and disturbing him,” he added.

Nigeria making no progress under Tinubu, says El-Rufai