The verbal crossfire between former Kaduna State Chief Executive Nasir El-Rufai and presidential media aide Daniel Bwala persisted when the former Chief Executive said he would have still abraded the All Progressives Congress (APC) on the off chance he was in the cabinet of President Tinubu as a minister.
El-Rufai spoke at a national conference in Abuja, saying he no longer identified with the APC and that the party has become 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 replied on a social media platform and said El-Rufai would not have possibly communicated 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.”
Reacting to the presidential aide on a social media post, 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 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 however, the former Chief Executive’s nomination was dismissed by the Senate. Since the incident, El-Rufai has not been seen in thee midst of APC chieftains. The former Chief Executive has likewise not been seen around the Aso Villa, the seat of power, or near the president whom he enthusiastically lobbied for in the last poll.
