…El-Rufai’ll add value to SDP in 2027—Agunloye

…Says more big shots coming

By Dayo Johnson

Akure—The presidential candidate of Social Democratic Party, SDP, in the 2023 elections, Adewole Adebayo, has described former governor of Kaduna State, Nasir el-Rufai, as an asset with a proven track record of exemplary public service.

Adebayo spoke on a day National Secretary of the party, Dr Olu Agunloye, declared that the defection of the former Kaduna governor would add value to the party.

Recall that el-Rufai on Monday, defected from ruling All Progressives Congress, APC, to Social Democratic Party, SDP.

Speaking in an interview on Channels Television’s breakfast programme, The Morning Brief, yestetrday, Adebayo extolled the intellectual sagacity of el-Rufai but said the former governor and also ex-minister of the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, had some weaknesses to work on.

He said: “The issue is that I see him as an asset, as a hard-working person and he has a verifiable and measurable track record of public performance. What I believe is that he has his weaknesses which he needs to work on but I am not his mentor or therapist.

“What I know is that Nigerians have a bird’s eye view of el-Rufai, they will consider some of the comments he’s made and some other aspects. Overall, Nigerians will say: ‘Here is a very good public servant.”

Adebayo, who said el-Rufai was welcomed into the SDP, stated further: “Nigeria is diverse and you will find patriots on all sides. It doesn’t mean that if you narrow the discussion to particular areas, I will agree with Nasir el-Rufai on many of them but I agree with the fact that he is a hard-working person and a highly intelligent person.”

While lampooning the APC as a party of lousy people with the overriding goal of state capture, the SDP presidential candidate said: “I consider APC to be a lousy coalition of people who do not know what governance is all about and who are very good with politics of how to capture power.




https://www.vanguardngr.com/2025/03/though-an-asset-el-rufai-has-weaknesses-to-work-on-sdps-adebayo/