There are strong indications that some former ministers of ex-President Muhammadu Buhari will move en masse to the Social Democratic Party.
A senator in the ninth Assembly, who spoke to Saturday PUNCH on condition of anonymity, said at least 10 former members of the Buhari cabinet were moving to the SDP.
“What they’re waiting for is the finalisation of the party structure in their respective states,” the source said.
Our correspondents gathered that leading Buhari’s loyalists in the defections are the former National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress, Abdullahi Adamu; ex-Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami; and former Senate President, Ahmed Lawan.
El-Rufai makes first move
One of Buhari’s loyalists and former governor of Kaduna State, Mallam Nasir El-Rufai, on Monday, defected to the SDP, citing a growing misalignment between his personal values and the current direction of the APC as the primary reason for his decision.
“Developments in the last two years confirm that those who currently control and run the APC do not desire to acknowledge, much less address, the party’s unhealthy situation.
“I have raised concerns in private and, more recently, in public regarding the party’s capricious trajectory. Therefore, at this point in my political journey, I have come to the conclusion that I must seek another political platform to pursue the progressive values I cherish,” he said.
El-Rufai, who is a vocal critic of President Bola Tinubu’s administration, disclosed on Wednesday that he sought Buhari’s approval before leaving the APC.
“I left the APC with his (Buhari’s) full knowledge. I visited him on a Friday and informed him of my decision to leave the party because I involve and consult with him on all my matters.
“I have those I consult with in everything I do. I inform them of anything I intend to do, and when they demand that I keep off, I do. My first godfather is Muhammadu Buhari.
“For the rest, I will not mention them because if I do, they’ll be pressured,” El-Rufai told the BBC Hausa service in an interview.
CPC bloc to work against Tinubu
El-Rufai’s defection and Buhari’s purported approval opened a floodgate of defections as some other members of the APC in the North, especially those of CPC extraction, have also been dumping the party.
Buhari, El-Rufai, Malami, and Lawan were leaders of the Congress for Progress Change until the party joined the Action Congress of Nigeria, a part of the All Progressives Grand Alliance, and members of the New Peoples Democratic Party to form the APC in 2013.
The former Kaduna governor’s statement also revealed the long-talked-about coalition involving some aggrieved leaders of the APC.
Following El-Rufai’s defection, a chieftain of the APC, Ahmad Kaita, who is a former senator, and member of the House of Representatives from Katsina, also joined the SDP.
Kaita is also a former member of the CPC.
Similarly, former Kaduna State commissioners for Agriculture, Ibrahim Hussaini; Justice, Aisha Dikko; Health, Amina Baloni; and Education, Halima Lawal; as well as former Head of Service, Hajiya Bari’atu Mohammed, also dumped the APC for the SDP.
Also, the Campaign Secretary of the APC in Gombe State during the 2015 general elections, Adamu Modibbo, has left the party. Modibbo is now the chairman of the SDP in the state.
A former Publicity Secretary of the APC in Borno State, Abdulaziz Galadima, while confirming his defection to the SDP to our correspondent, said he left the party because it deviated from the principles and ideology on which it was founded.
Galadima also confirmed that many original CPC members would leave the APC for “SDP or another party.”
Other politicians leaving
Saturday PUNCH reached out to Malami for comments on the matter, but the SAN neither answered calls nor responded to messages sent to his mobile phone.
However, one of his closest aides confirmed his involvement in the coalition move.
The aide, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said, “It is not about ousting Tinubu in 2027 but about our conviction that we have better and more credible constitutional alternatives to offer Nigerians in governance, particularly with regard to institutionalising a human-centred approach to governance.
“We collectively abhor the prevailing order in which governance is commercialised to the detriment of Nigerians and their welfare. It seems to be a marriage of tendencies that cut across the existing political parties with high-profile politicians from PDP, defunct CPC, ACN and APC among others.
“In personality sense, those involved across the geographical zones include serving and former governors and senators, former ministers, and past and present party officials.”
The highly credible source mentioned former governors of Rivers, Imo, Cross Rivers, Sokoto and Osun states, Rotimi Amaechi, Emeka Ihedioha, Liyel Imoke, Aminu Tambuwal and Rauf Aregbesola, respectively, as part of the stakeholders in the coalition movement.
A former Senate President, David Mark; ex-national chairman of APC, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun; a former Buhari’s Minister of State for Education, Emeka Nwajiuba, and the senator representing Borno South, Ali Ndume, among others, were also involved in the coalition.
Speaking with Saturday PUNCH, a chieftain of the APC in Imo State confirmed that the CPC extraction in the APC had concluded plans to leave the party for a coalition.
“That some ministers who served under Buhari are leaving or will leave the APC is confirmed. However, they may not join the SDP, but I know they are part of the coalition movement,” said the chieftain, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
According to him, no fewer than 10 ministers and many senators in the ninth National Assembly were leaving the APC.
He said, “President Tinubu has mismanaged the success of our party, and it is painful that things are going awry every day. APC bigwigs, both in the North and South, are not happy, and the President doesn’t care. You don’t grow by reducing in size. The APC is reducing in size.
“The CPC bloc of the party has also been leaving. You will agree with me that the CPC is a strong bloc in the APC, and if it is gone, I doubt if the APC will remain the same.
