A former Edo State governor, Senator Adams Oshiomhole, said he was unaware that former Kaduna State Mallam Nasir El-Rufai had dumped the ruling All Progressives Congress for the Social Democratic Party.
Speaking during an appearance on Channels Television’s Politics Today, Oshiomhole feigned surprise when informed that El-Rufai — one of APC’s founding members and a former minister of the Federal Capital Territory — had formally quit the ruling party earlier in the year.
Nasir El-Rufai, who played a key role in the formation of the APC in 2013 and was among President Bola Tinubu’s early allies, had grown increasingly critical of the party’s direction, accusing its leadership of abandoning internal democracy and deviating from the ideals that birthed it.
He eventually resigned from the APC on March 10, 2025, after submitting his letter to his ward executives in Kaduna, and the same day announced his defection to the SDP, a move that sent shockwaves through the political sphere.
But when asked about his “good friend” during the live interview, Oshiomhole appeared taken aback.
“El-Rufai? Yes, he is in APC,” he said.
When pressed that the former Kaduna governor had indeed dumped the party, the senator responded with mild disbelief.
“Has he (left)? Okay. Yes, he is my very good friend,” he added.
Oshiomhole also dismissed El-Rufai’s reported threat that President Tinubu would be “sent back to Lagos,” saying such a claim was laughable.
“That means the president doesn’t need to pay for any airfare to go back,” he joked.
“Perhaps we should play back what El-Rufai had said about Atiku Abubakar, since he is a prophet. Whatever he had prophesied for Atiku Abubakar and what he had said of the PDP and other political parties.”
He further noted that despite El-Rufai’s influence, the APC did not win Kaduna in the last general election, yet Tinubu triumphed nationally.
“I need to remind you that we didn’t win Kaduna under El-Rufai (and Lagos), yet he (president) won,” Oshiomhole said.
The former APC national chairman, who once served as the party’s chief enforcer under President Muhammadu Buhari, also praised Kaduna’s current governor for uniting a state long divided by sectarian politics.
As a Kaduna boy, it’s easy to hear from the street that the major issue that has bogged down Kaduna development for a long time — the seeming division exploited between Southern and Northern Kaduna — the new governor has woven them together.
“He has shown that a Muslim can associate with Christians by leading by example,” Oshiomhole said.
Oshiomhole concluded by noting that Kaduna was gradually regaining peace after years of ethno-religious tension.
“Those religious bigots are now retreating, and the people are beginning to enjoy the benefit of an increasingly unified state,” he said.
El-Rufai had dumped the ruling party, APC, for the Social Democratic Party.
The prominent politician cited a growing misalignment between his personal values and the current direction of the APC as the primary reason for his decision.
El-Rufai disclosed this in a press statement released on his X handle on March 10, 2025, where he expressed his disappointment with the APC’s leadership, accusing the party of straying from the progressive ideals of its founding members.
El-Rufai’s defection marks one of the most high-profile exits from the APC since President Tinubu assumed office, deepening speculation about emerging political realignments ahead of the 2027 elections.
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