Adewole Adebayo, the 2023 presidential candidate of the Social Democratic Party (SDP), has acknowledged the addition of Nasir El-Rufai to the party as an asset, even though he alluded to the former Kaduna state governor having
some refining to do.
He mentioned that Nasir El-Rufai has a proven track record of exemplary public service and has learnt some lessons
in the APC.
While praising El-Rufai, the two-term former governor of Kaduna State, for his intellectual acumen, Adebayo pointed
out that the former minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) needed to improve on a few areas.
“The issue is that I see him as an asset, as a hard-working person and he has a verifiable and measurable track record
of public performance,” the SDP chieftain said on Tuesday
“What I believe is that he has his weaknesses which he needs to work on, but I am not his mentor or therapist.
“What I know is that Nigerians have a bird’s-eye view of El-Rufai; they will consider some of the comments that he’s
made and some other aspects. Overall, Nigerians will say: ‘Here is a very good public servant.”
On Monday, March 10, 2025, El-Rufai, a northern political heavyweight and one of the strong support systems of ex-
Lagos governor Bola Tinubu in the 2023 presidential election, announced his defection from the ruling All
Progressives Congress (APC) to one of the opposition parties, the SDP.
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The former Kaduna governor said the APC has diverted from the dreams and vision of its founding fathers. El-Rufai
was involved in the merger of parties that formed the APC in 2013.
Adebayo said El-Rufai was welcomed into the SDP. He said, “Nigeria is diverse, and you will find patriots on all sides. It
doesn’t mean that if you narrow the discussion to particular areas, I will agree with Nasir El-Rufai on many of them,
but I agree with the fact that he is a hard-working person and a highly intelligent person.”
The SDP politician lampooned the APC as a party of lousy people with the overriding goal of state capture.
“I consider APC to be a lousy coalition of people who do not know what governance is all about and who are very good with the politics of how to capture power.
“When El-Rufai joined them, I thought that that was a loss to the more intellectual side of our society, and I am not
surprised that he had a head-on collision with them on many issues,” he said.
