Daniel Bwala, President Bola Tinubu’s special adviser on policy communications, warned Nasir El-Rufai, a former governor of Kaduna State, on Thursday after calling him a “latter-day convert.”
The former governor, a prominent member of the ruling All Progressives Congress, has recently made headlines for criticising the party for lacking active party structures and internal democracy.
“I no longer recognise the APC. No party organ has met in two years—no caucus, no NEC, nothing. You don’t even know if it is a one-man show; it’s a zero-man show,” El-Rufai said at a national conference in Abuja on strengthening democracy in Nigeria on Monday.
In a series of tweets via his X handle on Thursday, while responding to Bwala’s tweet, El-Rufai mentioned that he had no interest in serving in the President Bola Tinubu-led administration.
“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 in which 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 tweeted, among others.
However, reacting to the tweets, Bwala cautioned that he and the El-Rufai were instrumental in Tinubu’s emergence as the party’s presidential candidate in the 2023 elections.
“With respect, I am not a latter-day Asiwaju supporter. We both played our roles in his emergence as the candidate of the party ahead of the 2023 elections. And before then, whilst you were from the CPC extraction of APC, I was from the ACN, which explains why I worked with Comrade Oshiomhole when he chaired the party, among other things, to protect the interest of Asiwaju, whom at the time you people vowed to retire from politics,” Bwala stated.
“They are not borne out of patriotism, but need for vengeance,” the president’s spokesperson said, expressing his admiration for the APC chieftain. “The opposition sees that singular element of vengeance as a veritable tool for your recruitment.”
“I still think you don’t need all these melodramatic activities or a vengeance mission. Come back and resolve whatever you think are your grievances like the dignified man that you are.
“Our party, APC, as of today remains the only organised party with identifiable structures across the country. So, if you are looking for any symbol of democracy, it is still in your party. Please, senior, come home; you have toiled all night,” he stated.
