The immediate past governor of Kaduna State, Nasir El-Rufai, has lashed out at the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC, accusing the party of straying from its founding ideals and fostering poor leadership.

The ex-governor, while addressing a national conference in Abuja on strengthening democracy in Nigeria, described the state of governance and opposition in the country as a national emergency.

El-Rufai, who shared the report on his X handle on Tuesday, expressed concern over the absence of internal democracy and active party structures within the APC while condemning the quality of leadership emerging from political parties, which he said was a consequence of unqualified delegates.

“I no longer recognise the APC. No party organ has met in two years—no caucus, no NEC, nothing. You don’t even know if it is a one-man show; it’s a zero-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 said.

The former governor therefore charged political parties to raise standards for candidates and delegates, stressing that the constitution’s minimum requirement of a secondary school certificate should not be enough for nominations.

Citing a poll that showed 75 percent of registered voters might abstain from the 2027 elections, El-Rufai warned of a potential crisis.

Reacting to El-Rufai’s post, the Special Adviser to President Bola Tinubu on Public Communications and Media, Daniel Bwala, queried the former governor’s stance, asking if he would have held the same position had he remained in the government or cabinet.

Written by:

Leave a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *