The political war of words between former Kaduna State Governor, Nasir El-Rufai, and presidential media aide, Daniel Bwala, escalated on Thursday as El-Rufai insisted he would still criticize the All Progressives Congress (APC) even if he were in President Bola Tinubu’s cabinet.
Thank you for reading this post, don't forget to subscribe!El-Rufai, who recently disowned the APC, had earlier described the ruling party as a “one-man show” during a national conference in Abuja, where he blasted the quality of leadership in Nigeria.
“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,” El-Rufai stated, in what appeared to be a veiled attack on the party’s current leadership.
Bwala: Would El-Rufai Have Criticized APC If He Were Minister?
In response, Daniel Bwala, a key media aide to President Tinubu, took to X (formerly Twitter) to question El-Rufai’s stance, suggesting that the ex-governor’s criticisms were driven by his exclusion from Tinubu’s government.
“My senior brother, if you were to be in the government and cabinet, would you have held and expressed the same position?” Bwala asked. “It is a government you participated in its formation that you now want to unseat. Haba Mallam.”
El-Rufai Hits Back: ‘I Never Wanted a Ministerial Role’
El-Rufai wasted no time in firing back, insisting that he had no interest in a ministerial position under Tinubu.
“I was a cabinet minister 22 years ago and was clear to Asiwaju that I was not interested in any position in his future government,” he wrote on X.
He dismissed Bwala’s comments as “pathetic”, accusing him and others in Tinubu’s camp of moral flexibility.
“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,” he fired.
El-Rufai further claimed that if he had been in Tinubu’s cabinet, he would have privately voiced concerns about APC’s state of affairs before going public if no action was taken.
“If I had remained in the Tinubu government, I would say or do the same—first in private sessions with those concerned, and then go public if no remedial actions were taken,” he stated, urging critics to review his track record from 1998.
El-Rufai’s Rift with APC Deepens
Despite being a key figure in Tinubu’s 2023 presidential campaign, El-Rufai’s ministerial nomination was rejected by the Senate in August 2023. Since then, he has distanced himself from APC leadership, shunning major party gatherings and staying away from Aso Rock.
Political observers believe El-Rufai’s latest attack signals a deepening rift within the APC, as the former governor continues to position himself as an outspoken critic of the ruling party’s internal politics.
