Former Kaduna State governor Nasir El-Rufai has responded to the Special Adviser to President Bola Tinubu on Policy Communications, Daniel Bwala, who accused him (El-Rufai) of wanting to unseat the current government.
El-Rufai had on Tuesday criticised the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) for “straying away from its core values”, adding that he does not recognise his political party any longer.
El-Rufai stated this at a national conference on strengthening democracy in Nigeria, which held in Abuja.
“I am the founding member of the APC. But frankly, I no longer recognise the APC. No party organ has met in two years — no caucus, no NEC, nothing. I don’t even know if it is a one-man show. It is a zero-man show,” El-Rufai said.
Reacting to El-Rufai’s outburst, Bwala had asked the ex-minister of the federal capital territory (FCT) if his take on the APC would have been different if he were a member of Tinubu’s cabinet.
“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,” Bwala posted on X.
In his response to Bwala in a post on X on January 30, el-Rufai said “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,” the APC chieftain added.
El-Rufai said he had told Tinubu that he was not interested in any position in his government.
“I was cabinet minster 22 years ago, and was clear to Asiwaju that I was not interested in any position in his future government,” he said.
The ex-governor asked Bwala to enjoy his current office.
“I am only responding to you because I still think you are a decent person who may need a job,” el-Rufai added.
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