El-Rufai Confirms He Sought Buhari’s Permission Before Leaving APC for SDP

Former Kaduna State governor Nasir El-Rufai has revealed that he sought approval from former President Muhammadu Buhari before leaving the All Progressives Congress (APC) to join the Social Democratic Party (SDP).

Speaking in an interview with BBC Hausa, El-Rufai stated that he never makes major political moves without consulting Buhari.

He said: “The APC has derailed, the party is no longer abiding by its founding principles. Everyone is working for himself, looking for money. The government is commercialized, and everything has a price tag.

He criticized the APC for sidelining those who worked for the party’s success, saying, “Justice has been ignored. Instead of rewarding loyal party members, appointments are given to Lagos boys.”

“That is why we’ve been speaking, we spoke, we said this is not the party we know. The party is dead. I said the only option is for me to meet Pastor Tunde Bakare because he dragged me into APC. He took me to Buhari. I did not join the APC because of Buhari; it was Pastor Bakare who dragged me to APC and courtesy demanded I should let him know.

“Buhari, too; I told him I was leaving the party, and I sought his blessings and prayers. He said he had given me his blessings and prayers. We are the ones in politics; he (Buhari) is now the father of the land and has been praying for us, so what remains?

“I’ve publicly denounced my membership of the party; they can go and hold on to the party; they can eat the party alone like food; we’ve given up.”

When asked if he left to avoid being expelled, El-Rufai said he would have preferred to be expelled from the party.

“That would’ve been much easier for me, but look at it, as I kept on saying, I did not leave the party, it’s the party that dumped me. Why did it leave me? First of all, I was marginalized and not involved in all party activities. Not that I was invited and refused to honor the invite, but I was completely sidelined.

“Secondly, what we had planned to implement when we form government, it’s not what’s being implemented,” he alleged.

Addressing speculation that he quit the APC because he was not given a ministerial position, the former governor dismissed the claim, saying it was merely a widespread assumption.

“But did I even look for the ministerial position? I know those who even paid money to be appointed as ministers.

“Yes, I was at the screening because the President begged me. It was in the public glare, not the two of us for him to say he had never begged me. It was in Kaduna where he begged me to come and work with him. Even then, I did not agree until when we sat down and he told me what he wanted. The problem of electricity had refused to allow the country to progress. He said he would like to be the President that would finally resolve the power problem and he begged me to come and help him achieve that. I told him that I would look at the challenge he gave me and would consider working with him. I thought he meant it.”