The All Progressives Congress (APC) has slammed former Kaduna State Governor Nasir El-Rufai for his recent outburst on President Bola Tinubu and National Security Adviser (NSA) Nuhu Ribadu, calling him a “grudging man.”
APC likens El-Rufai’s outburst during a Monday night interview on Arise TV to that of a “lizard” whose actions would never measure up to those of a “crocodile.”
El-Rufai, in the interview, had criticised Tinubu’s economic policies and dismissed earlier reports that his nomination was rejected by the National Assembly, stating that it was the president, not the legislature, who had decided against appointing him as a minister.
He revealed that despite publicly appealing for him to serve in his government after he left office, President Tinubu later withdrew the offer.
He said, “Since I left office and the president begged me publicly to come and serve in his government, I had my plans and told President Tinubu from day one when he asked me to support him, I said I would, but I don’t want anything because politics in Nigeria is always about what do I get for giving you support.
“I’m not in politics for that reason. I’m not in politics to get anything. I have a surname, and I’m a self-made man. I’ve made money before coming into public office.
“I don’t need anything. After eight years in Kaduna, I was nearly burnt out. I was struggling for eight years, and I wanted to take a break, and I had my private plans.
“The President publicly appealed to me to put my plans on hold, and through two months of negotiations, we finally agreed that he would nominate me as a minister, and there were certain conditions I attached to that.”
“I think along the line, either the President changed his mind or something else. Please don’t believe the story that the National Assembly rejected me. The National Assembly had nothing to do with this; the President didn’t want me in his cabinet. He changed his mind. Whatever it is, I don’t care, and I’ve moved on.”
In the interview, El-Rufai also accused Ribadu of leading a plot to tarnish his reputation because of his 2031 presidential ambition.
El-Rufai alleged that Ribadu is collaborating with Governor Uba Sani of Kaduna and the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission to destroy his image.
According to him, Ribadu is nursing a presidential ambition in 2031, and he is ready to eliminate every northerner that he thinks is on the radar.
“This project of destroying Nasir El-Rufai is Nuhu Ribadu’s conception. He is the architect and builder of that project. He is the one working with Uba Sani to implement it. So far, it has been frustrating for them.
“Somebody wants to destroy my reputation. Why? Nuhu Ribadu wants to be president in 2031. He has to eliminate every northerner that he thinks is on the radar.”
In response, Ijeoma Arodiogbu, the National Vice Chairman of the APC (South East), called El-Rufai a “grudging man” whose self-centred
demands were not fulfilled by the Tinubu government.
“El-Rufai is a grudging man. I think his personal expectations and selfish needs of the government were not met. So, he’s grudging for that,” Arodiogbu said.
“Nothing less than this is expected. That could also define what he meant by saying that the party left him. He didn’t leave the party.”
When asked about the potential impact of El-Rufai’s defection from APC, Arodiogbu dismissed any concerns, stating,
“It is not a threat at all. I’ll tell you, in the past couple of weeks, almost any politician of note—whether Senators, House of Reps members, former candidates of the Labour Party in the House of Reps and Senate, former or current PDP serving lawmakers, and other parties—have come to the APC.
“So, you can see the optics are very clear. If every politician of note in the states is defecting to the APC, what do you expect? So, El-Rufai’s support amounts to nothing.
“It’s just like seeing the lizard every day on the wall doing press-ups. It doesn’t matter the press-ups it does; the biceps can’t grow to that of a crocodile. That is how I see it.”
Arodiogbu also claims that El-Rufai was frustrated by the loss of his loyalists to the APC and noted that his outburst was an attempt to regain attention after realizing that many of his supporters had shifted allegiance.
“What is the right thing he was asking the APC to do? Is it for his selfish expectations or needs? I don’t think that the party is missing him so much because we have harvested so many people in Kaduna State. He is only pained because people are leaving him and joining the APC.
“That’s why he could muster up the courage to come and grant what he termed his first interview. He is only yearning for attention after discovering he was lost.”