The All Progressives Congress (APC) has described the immediate-past governor of Kaduna State, Nasir El-Rufai as an emergency activist and overrated ethnic national champion who thinks being in government is his birthright.
The APC National Secretary, Ajibola Basiru, also accused El-Rufai of stoking ethnic agenda over his failure to get a cabinet appointment.
Speaking on El-Rufai’s meeting with opposition party leaders, Basiru, said they no longer pay attention to his activities after the party discovered he was “an overrated ethnic champion” who is always ready to pitch northern politicians against their southern counterparts.
The party scribe slammed El-Rufai over his continued posture as the mouthpiece of the North and recent fraternity with top opposition figures.
He said, “I have told you before and am still telling you again that we are concerned about our affairs in the APC. For parties in Nigeria, it is free exit and free entry. So anybody is free to exit if he wants to exit. But we will not dignify such moves with any comment for now.
“We understand that sectional politics is what makes some people tick. Unfortunately, he (El-Rufai) is not thinking about the development of the country but is stoking up the ethnic nationality agenda. This South versus North posture shows that all along, he has been overrated as a person.”
Hinting at El-Rufai’s grievance over his rejection as a ministerial nominee, Basiru noted, “The only thing we want to say is that governance is a serious matter and nobody has the birthright to be an appointee of government. There are more than 180 million Nigerians and quite a number of them are qualified”.
“So, if you don’t have an opportunity to serve in a government, it does not mean that you should be going around and trying to become an emergency activist. As I said before, politics is a free exit and free entry. The APC is solid and we are forging ahead.”
The party chief claimed Nigerians had started seeing the results of the Renewed Hope Agenda of the President.
“In the past couple of weeks, you can confirm that the naira is firming up against the dollar. Even fuel as well as the prices of foodstuff in the market have gone down,” he stated.
