El-Rufai denies defecting to PDP, says he’ll take legal action against ‘culprits’

Nasir el-Rufai, former governor of Kaduna, has reacted to speculations that he has perfected plans to defect from the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).

On Sunday, a page on X claimed that el-Rufai was set to receive the membership card of the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Kaduna.

Reacting to the post, the former Kaduna governor said rumours bordering on his political re-alignment were patent lies.

“Please disregard the patent lies and rumours about my political affiliation. I have referred the lead peddlers of the fake news for further action by my lawyers,” he wrote.

Since 2023, there have been rumours that el-Rufai, an APC chieftain, has been looking to pitch his political tent elsewhere.

The rumours began after the former Kaduna governor was unable to scale the ministerial screening hurdle. The senate had withheld his confirmation over security clearance.

The development meant that the former Kaduna governor could not be sworn in as a minister despite being nominated by President Bola Tinubu.

The decision of the senate was perceived in some quarters as a move to whittle the political influence of the former Kaduna governor.

In Kaduna, el-Rufai’s eight-year tenure is being investigated for alleged corruption — a move that the former governor has dismissed as being politically motivated.

The probe suggests an underlying tension between el-Rufai and Uba Sani, his successor, even though both men are members of the APC.

Recently, the former Kaduna governor shared an article on X in which Tinubu was being criticised for alleged ethnic bias in the leadership structure of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited.