The former governor of Kaduna State, Nasir El-Rufai, has alleged that certain individuals, whom he referred to as “clowns,” are being paid to defend Bola Tinubu’s administration.
El-Rufai made this remark in response to a post by the Special Adviser to the President on Policy Communication, Daniel Bwala.
Bwala had criticized the former Kaduna State governor over his public condemnation of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).
Speaking at a national conference on strengthening democracy in Nigeria on Monday, El-Rufai described the state of governance and opposition in the country as a “national emergency.”
He openly lambasted the APC, accusing the party of lacking internal democracy and stating that he no longer recognized it.
His remarks sparked reactions among party loyalists and top figures, with speculation mounting that he was planning to exit the APC.
In response, Bwala posted: “My senior brother, if you were in government and part of the cabinet, would you have held and expressed the same position? History is replete with examples.”
“It is a government you participated in its formation, that you now want to unseat. Haba Mallam, a Ji soron Allah mana.”
But in a counter post, El-Rufai who described Bwala as a latter-day convert of Tinubu, said he informed the President he was not interested in serving in his administration.
According to El-Rufai, “I was cabinet minister 22 years ago and it was clear to Asiwaju that I was not interested in any position in his future government.
“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.
“If I had remained in the Tinubu government, I will say or do the same on the tragedy within a party I was a founder, and the government that emerged from it.
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“First in private sessions with those concerned, and then go public if no remedial actions are taken. Go and check my public service record from 1998”, he stated.
He said he was only responding to Bwala because “I still think you are a decent person who may need a job, and not in the class of Wendell Simlin and that Kaduna pretender that our voters retired in 2019.
“These clowns are political mercenaries that receive humongous monthly stipends from the security vote to be the first to jump on X and other platforms to defend everything the Asiwaju government does or fails to do, no matter how indefensible it may be.
“Enjoy your special adviser position, my brother, but remember that allegiance to God and country comes first in the human scale of accountability, before any person or authority”, he added.
El-Rufai, a former Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), was nominated by Bola Tinubu for a ministerial position in 2023 but was not confirmed by the Senate.
His confirmation was withheld due to petitions filed against him, reportedly orchestrated by political opponents within the party.
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