The All Progressives Congress has criticized the immediate past Governor of Kaduna State, Nasir e-Rufai, for attacking President Bola Tinubu and the National Security Adviser, Nuhu Ribadu.
The National Vice Chairman of the APC (South East), Dr Ijeoma Arodiogbu, said el-Rufai’s criticism of the President and the NSA on a Monday night interview on Arise TV was pathetic.
El-Rufai, in the interview, faulted Tinubu’s economic reforms sequencing, saying “I support some of (Tinubu) policies; most of the economic policies are the right orthodox policies, but the sequencing is wrong, and the quality of the people implementing the reforms leaves much to be desired. And I think that some of the reforms are just wrong.
“You don’t address food inflation by destroying domestic agriculture. Food prices may be going down, but farmers are being impoverished because they are being made to compete with subsidised agricultural products from Europe and other countries.
“So, I have issues with many of them, and I’m in touch with many senior officials of the administration, and I give them my opinion privately.”
He accused the President of rejecting him as a ministerial nominee and not the National Assembly, as previously reported.
El-Rufai thumbed down Ribadu’s appointment as NSA, saying he was not qualified for the task.
He accused the NSA 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 he thinks is on the radar.
While reacting to the attack on Tinubu, Arodiogbu said el-Rufai was nursing a grudge because his selfish expectations were not met by the Tinubu administration.
He said “Nothing less than this is expected. That could also define what he meant by that the party left him. He didn’t leave the party.”
The APC vice chairman said if the former governor leaves the ruling party, it wouldn’t pose any threat.
El-Rufai gave the condition of him remaining in the APC, saying the ruling party should retrace its step back to the vision and ideology of the founding founders, if not he join another party which shares the same values as him
But the APC said “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 Labour Party in 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. So, if everybody, 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-up it does, the biceps can’t grow to that of a crocodile. That is how I see it.’’
Arodogbu said el-Rufai id feeling hurt because he was losing his loyalists to the APC.
“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,” he asserted.
