The Social Democratic Party’s (SDP) 2023 presidential candidate, Adewole Adebayo, has described former Kaduna State Governor Nasir El-Rufai as a valuable addition to the party, praising his intellect and public service record but noting that he has areas to improve on.
Speaking on Channels Television’s The Morning Brief on Tuesday, March 11, Adebayo said, “The issue is that I see him as an asset, as a hard-working person, and he has a verifiable and measurable track record of public performance.”
He added, “What I believe is that he has his weaknesses which he needs to work on, but I am not his mentor or therapist. What I know is that Nigerians have a bird’s-eye view of El-Rufai. They will consider some of the comments he’s made and some other aspects. Overall, Nigerians will say: ‘Here is a very good public servant.’”
El-Rufai, a founding member of the All Progressives Congress (APC), defected to the SDP on Monday, citing a misalignment between his values and the ruling party’s current direction. He was a key figure in APC’s formation and played a crucial role in President Bola Tinubu’s 2023 election victory.
Adebayo welcomed El-Rufai’s move but admitted there were ideological differences. “Nigeria is diverse, and you will find patriots on all sides. It doesn’t mean that if you narrow the discussion to particular areas, I will agree with Nasir El-Rufai on many of them. But I agree with the fact that he is a hard-working person and a highly intelligent person,” he said.
The SDP chieftain criticised the APC, describing it as a party focused more on power than governance. “I consider APC to be a lousy coalition of people who do not know what governance is all about and who are very good with politics of how to capture power,” he said.
He continued, “When El-Rufai joined them, I thought that that was a loss to the more intellectual side of our society, and I am not surprised that he had a head-on collision with them on many issues.”
READ ALSO: Shehu Sani Welcomes El-Rufai’s Defection from APC to SDP
Adebayo also claimed El-Rufai had learned lessons from his time in the APC. “You can accuse El-Rufai of anything, but you cannot accuse him of lack of ideas. I can just say that he joined a lousy group of people, and then he’s learned his lessons now,” he said.
He acknowledged that El-Rufai’s defection to the SDP followed extensive discussions. “The idea of the SDP is that if you are going to be in charge of Nigeria, you need to persuade people; El-Rufai did not run or crash into our party. We had discussions with him, we had ideological interactions, and even now, there are works in progress,” he said.
He, however, stressed that not all of El-Rufai’s policies would be accepted by the SDP. “Some of his ideas that he is used to over the years, the SDP will not accept, and we are working on that,” he said.
He warned that their political relationship would not always be smooth, saying, “Don’t be surprised that you’ll hear in two weeks’ time, or in two months’ time, that Adebayo and El-Rufai disagree vehemently on an issue in SDP.”
Adebayo also made it clear that the SDP’s goal was to unseat the APC in 2027. “We are going to give Nigerians a chance to defeat the APC, and I can tell you that there is nothing good about President Tinubu coming back in 2027. He won’t do well at all; we have seen the record,” he declared.
El-Rufai had been a vocal supporter of Tinubu’s presidency and played a key role in securing the APC ticket for him in 2023. However, his relationship with the current administration soured after the Senate rejected his ministerial nomination, citing security concerns.
His defection to the SDP follows months of speculation, as he had been seen in the company of SDP leaders before making his final decision public. Additionally, his relationship with Kaduna State Governor Uba Sani has deteriorated, with the state assembly currently probing his administration for alleged corruption—an allegation El-Rufai has denied.