Quit sulking, get a grip, APC blasts El-Rufai 

The ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) has hit back at former governor of Kaduna State and one of its founding members, Mallam Nasir El-Rufai, who recently defected to the Social Democratic Party (SDP). The APC in a statement by its National Publicity Secretary, Barrister Felix Morka, on Monday said El-Rufai had in a BBC Hausa […]

Quit sulking, get a grip, APC blasts El-Rufai 

Nasir Ahmad el-Rufai

The ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) has hit back at former governor of Kaduna State and one of its founding members, Mallam Nasir El-Rufai, who recently defected to the Social Democratic Party (SDP).
The APC in a statement by its National Publicity Secretary, Barrister Felix Morka, on Monday said El-Rufai had in a BBC Hausa interview accused the ruling party of deviating from the progressive ideals of its founders.
The ruling party warned the former Kaduna governor against any attempt to “collapse the system” that brought him to political prominence, saying his failure to clinch the ministerial position in the current administration is not enough reason for him to rise against the party.
The APC also dismissed El-Rufai’s submission on deviation from founding vision, saying its commitment to the founding values and ideals remain valid, progressive and sacrosanct.
“El-Rufai’s allegation of a drift from our party’s founding values exists only in his foggy imagination,” The APC said in the statement.
“Today, El-Rufai stands diminished as the epitome of a self-interested politician, blinded by ego, driven by untamed emotion, and brimming with a vengeful desire to ‘collapse the system.’
“In his BBC interview under reference, El-Rufai supplied the real reason for his soreness, stating that he was disappointed by the way he was treated by  President Bola Tinubu and his administration, in ostensible reference to his failed ministerial bid.
“His claim that he exited because the party had deviated from its founding values or progressive ideology is a smokescreen to weaponise personal grievance garbed as principled dissent.”
The APC asked El-Rufai to offer constructive criticism or alternative policies as expected of serious minded political opposition, rather than engaging in “scurrilous propaganda and deliberate misinformation.”