APC accuses El-Rufai, Atiku of plotting to use ADC to derail power rotation

The All Progressives Congress (APC) has accused former Kaduna State governor, Nasir el-Rufai, and ex-vice president, Atiku Abubakar, of masterminding a deliberate plot to sabotage Nigeria’s presidential power rotation arrangement.

In a statement issued on Monday by its National Publicity Secretary, Felix Morka, the ruling party alleged that the duo had hijacked the African Democratic Congress (ADC) to advance another northern presidential bid, in defiance of the zoning principle which favours a southern presidency following eight years of northern leadership under Muhammadu Buhari.

Morka claimed that el-Rufai’s recent criticisms of President Bola Tinubu were driven by personal resentment after his failed ministerial nomination, adding that his attacks form part of a broader plan to destabilise national unity.

“It is now clear to all Nigerians that El-Rufai and his cohorts in ADC are on a mission to upend the presidential rotational principle designed to promote national unity and cohesion in the country through the imposition of Atiku as presidential candidate of ADC in the middle of a southern presidency rotation,” the statement read.

The APC likened their political activities to the same disregard for zoning that, it claimed, led to the downfall of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) during the 2023 general elections.

“It was Atiku’s selfish and obdurate refusal to respect the rotation principle during the 2023 PDP presidential primary that directly resulted in PDP’s virtual cremation. El-Rufai and Atiku want to do to Nigeria what Atiku did to PDP,” Morka alleged.

The ruling party also criticised what it described as the hypocrisy of opposition politicians who initially backed the removal of fuel subsidy and foreign exchange reforms but now attack the Tinubu-led government for implementing those same policies.

“All three major contestants in the 2023 presidential election campaigned to remove fuel subsidy and harmonise multiple foreign exchange regimes. Upon his election and inauguration, President Tinubu swiftly implemented policy reforms as he promised,” Morka said.

Dismissing el-Rufai’s recent remarks in Sokoto—where he reportedly labelled Tinubu’s administration as incompetent and clannish—the APC described the comments as “rantings of an inconsolable sulker.”

Morka further accused the former Kaduna governor of contributing nothing substantial to national politics beyond “an oversized ego, wild entitlement mentality, and predatory presidential ambition.”