El-Rufai’s Political Exodus: Ideology or Convenience?

By Salihu Garba-Mama Aliyu (#SAGMA)

Malam Nasir El-Rufai has dominated headlines in recent weeks—from his public backing of Naja’atu Muhammad against his erstwhile ally, now political rival, Nuhu Ribadu, to his first media interview since leaving the governorship of Kaduna State.

Yet, it was his bombshell announcement on March 10, 2025, that truly set tongues wagging: his resignation from the All Progressives Congress (APC) and defection to the Social Democratic Party (SDP). This seismic shift has ignited fierce debate: Is El-Rufai’s departure a bold stand against the APC’s crumbling ideals, or a calculated leap onto the next convenient political lifeboat?

El-Rufai’s Departure: Principled Stand or Political Opportunism?

The move prompts urgent questions. Should Nigerians follow El-Rufai into the SDP without hesitation, or demand a clearer articulation of his ideological compass? What vision does he offer to rally a mass movement?

What vision does he offer to rally a mass movement?

If his defection hinges on shared values, what are they—and why were they not championed more visibly during his years of influence within the APC? These are not mere quibbles; they are essential to discerning whether El-Rufai’s latest pivot deserves our trust.

El-Rufai’s Missing Ideological Anchor

To many Northern youths, El-Rufai has been a mentor, a father figure, even an elder brother. Yet his exit strategy demands scrutiny. He frames his departure as a rejection of the APC’s drift from its founding principles, but he stops short of defining those principles or detailing how they were betrayed. This vagueness undermines his moral authority.

El-Rufai and Ribadu once thrived as political insiders, their influence akin to the Hausa title maji-dadi—a favored court official basking in the king’s favor. Their rise owed much to privilege, encapsulated by the proverb mai uwa a murhu—the child whose mother cooks never goes hungry.

For nearly a decade, El-Rufai reaped the APC’s rewards, securing two terms as Kaduna governor with President Muhammadu Buhari’s explicit blessing. Buhari’s era, however, ended in widespread disillusionment over corruption and misrule.

Now, as power shifts to Bola Tinubu—the latest beneficiary of the emi lokan (my turn) elite pact—does El-Rufai’s talk of “values” simply mask a longing for the privileges he once enjoyed?

Was he not instrumental in the zoning maneuvers that crowned Tinubu as the party’s flagbearer?

He lambasts the APC’s current leadership but sidesteps his own role in its evolution. Was he not instrumental in the zoning maneuvers that crowned Tinubu as the party’s flagbearer? If the APC has lost its way, mustn’t El-Rufai shoulder some blame for steering it astray?

Unlike Ibrahim Babangida, who belatedly owned up to annulling MKO Abiola’s election, El-Rufai—nicknamed Mai Rusau (The Demolisher) for his ruthless tenure as FCT Minister—shows no such introspection. Without reckoning with his past, he risks appearing not as a reformer, but as a pragmatist who thrived in a system until it no longer favored him.

From “God First” to Political Convenience: El-Rufai’s Contradictions

In my prior piece, El-Rufai’s Tripartite Ethos: A Betrayal of Divine and Democratic Justice, I dissected his Arise TV claim:

“For me, the hierarchy of commitment is: God, Country, and then Party.”

If this ethos held true, justice and merit would define his politics. Yet El-Rufai fiercely championed karba-karba (turn-by-turn politics)—an elite bargain that elevates dealmaking over competence. His push for a Southern presidency in 2023, despite viable Northern candidates, clashed with the divine fairness he professed.

Today, he cozies up to his old mentor, Atiku Abubakar, spotted sharing iftar at Atiku’s home. Will he now justify a decade of betrayal, from 2015 to 2025, when he undermined Atiku’s ambitions? Ribadu, too, shares this history of disloyalty, softened only by familial ties through their children’s marriage. One wonders: Would El-Rufai have bolted from the APC had Tinubu dangled a ministerial post? For many, his defection reeks less of principle and more of survival.

The Fallacy of Turn-by-Turn Politics

El-Rufai helped entrench karba-karba in 2023, ignoring its flaws:

It Undermines Democracy – Leadership emerges from elite pacts, not voter choice.

Would El-Rufai have bolted from the APC had Tinubu dangled a ministerial post?

It Fuels Division – Ethnic and religious tensions fester as groups “await their turn,” evident in Tinubu’s Yoruba-heavy appointments.

It Defies the Constitution – Nigeria’s charter knows no zoning or rotational presidency.

Having propped up this system, El-Rufai now tastes its bitter fruit. The Tinubu-Ribadu axis has sidelined him within the APC. Had he truly put God first, he’d have rejected karba-karba long ago. Instead, he backed it—until it turned against him.

El-Rufai’s Defection: Visionary Call or Cynical Bet?

Should opposition figures rally behind the SDP just because El-Rufai beckons? What sets the SDP apart, beyond his own exclusion from the APC’s inner circle? Unlike the APC’s 2014 rise—fueled by a unified goal to oust the PDP—El-Rufai’s current gambit lacks a compelling raison d’être. Without a clear ideology, it feels like another shuffle in Nigeria’s endless game of political musical chairs.

Northern admirers who once saw him as a beacon now strain to find a coherent vision in his actions. His exit lacks the heft of a transformative agenda—just a hop from one platform to another. Baba Sule Lamido’s quip rings true: the APC was always a patchwork of odd bedfellows, devoid of ideological glue.

A Lesson for the Youth

If El-Rufai seeks to spearhead a true opposition, he must:

Articulate policies that set the SDP apart from the APC’s failures.

Own his share of the APC’s missteps, not just point fingers.

Dismantle karba-karba and champion meritocracy.

Until then, Mai Rusau’s exodus will be read not as a rebirth of conviction, but as a tactical retreat born of necessity.

The Takeaway

Nigerian politics teaches a hard truth: Those who trade justice for expediency often fall prey to the systems they sustain. Abandoning principle for power breeds only loss and remorse. May Allah guide us all.

Read Also: Breaking News: El-Rufai Dumps APC, Joins SDP