The immediate-past Governor of Kaduna State, Nasir el-Rufa’i, has resigned from the ruling All Progressives Congress and defected to the Social Democratic Party (SDP).
In a statement he issued on Monday, El-Rufai expressed his disappointment with the APC’s leadership style, accusing the leadership of the party of straying from the progressive ideals of its founding members.
At this point in my political journey, I have come to the conclusion that I must seek another political platform for the pursuit of the progressive values I cherish. I have now decided to join the Social Democratic Party (SDP): https://t.co/31zBvVPkQf
— Nasir Ahmad El-Rufai (@elrufai) March 10, 2025
He disclosed that he had expressed concerns both privately and publicly over the party’s trajectory in the past two years but found no willingness among the current leadership to address the issues.
The former governor said, “Developments in the last two years on the part of those who currently control and run the APC to acknowledge, much less address, the unhealthy situation of the state.
“At this point in my political journey, I have come to the conclusion that I must seek another political platform for the pursuit of the progressive values I cherish.
“My eight-year tenure in Kaduna State was devoted to implementing progressive policies to advance human development. These records count for little in the current APC that has castrated its organs and treated its membership with contempt in the last two years, I find this no longer acceptable.”
El-Rufai said he submitted his resignation letter to his ward in Kaduna North Local Government Area of the North-West state.
He described the SDP as the platform for his future political engagements even as he called on his supporters and other concerned Nigerians to join him in the SDP, emphasising the need for a unified democratic platform to challenge the APC in future elections.
El-Rufai’s move followed his meetings with former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, former vice presidential candidate Tunde Bakare, former President Muhammadu Buhari, among others.
His defection also came after a number of confrontations with the presidency. The former governor was not at the APC national caucus and the party’s National Executive Committee (NEC) meeting last month.
El-Rufai: Tinubu’s Ally-Turned-Outsider
El-Rufai was one of the northern powerbrokers who insisted that the APC presidential ticket for the 2023 general elections be given to a southern candidate in line with the unwritten principle of rotation of power between the southern and the northern regions in Nigeria. This was after the eight-year tenure of President Muhammadu Buhari, from the North-West geopolitical zone.
El-Rufai, who was Kaduna governor between May 2015 and May 2023, was vocal in his choice of ex-Lagos governor Bola Tinubu as the flag bearer of the party in the last general elections.
The then Kaduna governor, alongside his northern colleagues, backed Tinubu against two other northern juggernauts who were also aspirants – – then Senate President Ahmad Lawan and ex-Jigawa governor, Mohammed Badaru.
Tinubu later clinched the APC ticket and was elected Nigeria’s president during the February 2023 presidential poll.
In Nigeria’s political turf where compensation politics has become almost a norm, Tinubu nominated El-Rufai as one of his ministers three months after his inauguration.
However, El-Rufai fell out with the movers and shakers in the current government and was rejected by the Senate during the ministerial screening process. The upper legislative chamber cited security reasons from the Department of State Services as one of the reasons for his rejection.
Since the August 2023 incident, El-Rufai has not been seen in a gathering of APC chieftains. The former governor has also not been seen around the Aso Villa, the seat of power, or near the president whom he vigorously campaigned for in the last poll.
Conversely, El-Rufai was previously spotted with SDP chieftains fuelling defection rumours, which he initially dismissed before the final admission on Monday, March 10, 2025.
Also, El-Rufai’s relationship with his successor, Sani Uba, in Kaduna, has turned sour with the state assembly probing his eight-year administration for alleged corruption, an allegation denied by the ex-governor.
