By our reporter
Immediate past governor of Kaduna State, Malam Nasir El-Rufai, has claimed that former President Muhammadu Buhari was in the know of his plans to leave the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) and even blessed the intention.
Last Monday, El-Rufai, once a powerful voice in the APC during the Buhari administration (2015-23) when he (El-Rufai) served for eight years as two-term governor of Kaduna State, announced his departure from APC.
He immediately declared that he had joined the opposition Social Democratic Party (SDP).
Speaking in an interview on the Hausa Service of British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), El-Rufai, a known political ally of Buhari, stated that he duly informed the former president as well as Lagos mega-church General Overseer (GO), Pastor Tunde Bakare,of his intention to quit.
In a shocking revelation, El-Rufai, during the interview, also claimed to know Ministers in the current federal administration of President Bola Tinubu who “bought” their positions.
Furthermore, the former governor alleged that most of the persons in the Tinubu administration were there purely for selfish financial gain; implying that public service was secondary.
Though El-Rufai said he informed Buhari before jumping off the APC ship, the former President quickly moved to kill off any insinuations by declaring publicly that he (Buhari) remained a staunch member of APC, on which platform he became President in 2015.
According to El-Rufai, he always sought Buhari’s advice and consent before making major political decisions, stressing that the Daura-born ex-President gave his nod to his APC exit, after discussions in which, he said, both agreed that the ruling party had deviated from its original objectives.
He said: “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 demands I should let him know.
“Buhari too; I told him I was leaving the party. I sought his blessings and prayers. He said he has given me his blessings and prayers. We are the ones in politics; he (Buhari) is now 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.”
El-Rufai took the APC and its federal administration to the cleaners, alleging that they had commercialized the political environment,with many queuing up for power just for their personal pockets only.
However, he failed to name names.
El-Rufai declared: “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 commercialised; everything has a price tag.
“Justice has been kept at bay. Those who worked for the party were ignored instead of being compensated.
“If there is any position or appointment, they give it to a Lagos boy.”
Questioned on whether he exited APC to avert a possible expulsion, he, surprisingly, said expulsion would have been a welcome option for him and the party.
His words: “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, not involved in all party activities. Not that I was invited and refused to honour the invite; I was completely sidelined.
“Secondly, what we had planned to implement when we form government, it’s not what’s being implemented.”
