Former Kaduna State Governor, Nasir El-Rufai, has maintained that his stance on President Bola Tinubu’s administration would remain the same even if he were still part of the government.
El-Rufai stated this on Thursday in response to Daniel Bwala, Special Adviser to the President on Policy Communications, who had questioned whether he would have expressed the same views if he were in Tinubu’s cabinet.
Speaking at a national conference on strengthening democracy in Nigeria on Monday, El-Rufai had described governance and opposition in the country as a “national emergency.” He also criticised the ruling All Progressives Congress for lacking internal democracy and functional party structures.
“I no longer recognise the APC. No party organ has met in two years—no caucus, no NEC, nothing. You don’t even know if it is a one-man show; it’s a zero-man show,” El-Rufai said.
His remarks drew criticism from the APC, which accused him of treachery and undermining the Federal Government.
Bwala, in response, questioned El-Rufai’s motives, writing on X (formerly Twitter), “My senior brother, if you were to be in the government and cabinet, would you have held and expressed the same position?
“History is replete with examples. It is a government you participated in its formation, that you now want to unseat. Haba Mallam, a ji soron Allah mana.”
El-Rufai, in a sharp reply on Thursday, dismissed claims that he had sought a ministerial role in Tinubu’s government, calling out “latter-day converts” to the administration for pushing that narrative.
“Good morning, #BwalaDaniel, I was cabinet minister 22 years ago and was clear to Asiwaju that I was not interested in any position in his future government. The pathetic manner all of you latter-day converts to the Tinubu government make an issue of something that I never wanted in the first place is perhaps a reflection of the level of your moral flexibility.
“If I had remained in the Tinubu government, I will say or do the same on the tragedy within a party I was a founder, and the government that emerged from it – first in private sessions with those concerned, and then go public if no remedial actions are taken. Go and check my public service record from 1998.
“I am only responding to you because I still think you are a decent person who may need a job, and not in the class of Wendell Simlin and that Kaduna pretender that our voters retired in 2019 – these clowns are political mercenaries that receive humongous monthly stipends from the security vote to be the first to jump on X and other platforms to defend everything the Asiwaju government does or fails to do, no matter how indefensible it may be.
“Enjoy your special adviser position, my brother, but remember that allegiance to God and country comes first in the human scale of accountability, before any person or authority.”
