Premised on the recent criticism by the former Kaduna State Governor, Mallam Nasir El-Rufai, a verbal crossfire has ensued between the former governor and presidential media aide Daniel Bwala over the former’s intention and motive for criticism.
The conversation continued on Thursday when the ex-governor said he would still excoriate the All Progressives Congress (APC) if he were in the cabinet of President Bola Tinubu as a minister, adding that he is within his right to criticize a party of which he is a founding member.
The former Kaduna governor insists that the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) lacks internal democracy and active party structures.
Recall that on Monday, El-Rufai spoke at a national conference in Abuja, saying he no longer recognizes the APC and that the party has tended toward a one-man show.
“You cannot afford to have illiterates, semi-illiterates, and cunning people as your leaders. This is why we end up with the poor leadership we have today,” he had said, criticizing the leadership of the party.
Bwala responded on X and said El-Rufai would not have expressed such a position if he were in the cabinet of the President.
He said, “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. Haba Mallam.”
Replying to the presidential aide on X, El-Rufai said, “I was cabinet minister 22 years ago, and was clear to Asiwaju that I was not interested in any position in his future government. The pathetic manner in which 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. Go and check my public service record from 1998.”
Tinubu nominated El-Rufai as minister in August 2023 but the ex-governor’s nomination was rejected by the Senate. Since the incident, El-Rufai has not been seen in a gathering of APC chieftains. The former governor has also not been seen around the Aso Villa, the seat of power, or near the president whom he vigorously campaigned for in the last poll.
