Olusegun Ariyo
Former Governor of Kaduna State, Nasir El-Rufai has formerly resigned from the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC, and joined the Social Democratic Party, SDP.
“Today, the 10th of March 2025, I have submitted a letter resigning my membership of the APC to my ward in Kaduna, effective immediately.
“After this, I had concluded consultations with my mentors, colleagues and loyalists alike about the future, and have decided to join the Social Democratic Party (SDP), and adopt it as the platform for our future political engagements and activities,” the former Kaduna governor said in a statement.
El-Rufai noted that developments in the last two years confirm that there is no desire on the part of those who currently control and run the APC to acknowledge, much less address, the unhealthy situation in the party.
He added, “On my part, I have raised concerns in private and, more recently, in public regarding the capricious trajectory of the party.
“Therefore, at this point in my political journey, I have concluded that I must seek another political platform for the pursuit of the progressive values I cherish.”
El-Rufai stated that founders rightly feel attached towards institutions they helped create, but one must be pragmatic enough to admit when a divergence appears unbridgeable.
“I have diligently served the APC and made my contributions to its viability as a political platform but recognize that the party has since strayed and left me stuck in the vision of its well-meaning founding fathers and mothers.
“As a loyal party man, I worked to help secure the APC’s election victories in 2015, 2019 and 2023. I was one of the many governors elected on the party’s platform in 2015 and 2019, who stood for certain democratic and progressive principles to advance nation-building.”
The former governor stressed that his eight-year tenure in Kaduna State was devoted to implementing progressive policies to advance human development in education and healthcare, as well as expand infrastructure, promote equality of opportunity, create jobs and attract investments.
He noted that these records count for little in the current APC that has castrated its organs and treated its membership with contempt in the last two years, and he found the situation no longer acceptable.
“As a founding member of the All Progressives Congress (APC), I have fond memories of working with other compatriots to negotiate the merger of political parties that created the APC.
“It had been my hope since 2013 that my values and those of the APC will align up to the time I choose to retire from politics,” El-Rufai stated.
He said that as a member of the SDP, he would focus on engaging with and persuading other opposition leaders and parties to join the party and congregate under a unified democratic platform to challenge the APC in all elections and bye-elections between now and 2027.
“I therefore call on all our supporters and other persons concerned about our country’s future to join us in the SDP in the journey towards making Nigeria flourish as a beacon of pride for Africans and the Black Race,” he said.
