Political Turmoil: El-Rufai Accuses Tinubu of Funding Parties Opposition Chaos

Nasir El-Rufai, a former governor of Kaduna State, has charged that the government of President Bola Tinubu is responsible for planning and financing the current conflicts inside opposition groups, including as the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP), the Labour Party (LP), and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

In a video obtained by SaharaReporters on Tuesday, El-Rufai, who recently left the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) for the Social Democratic Party (SDP), made the accusation.

Speaking at his new party's office, he asserted that the federal government was purposefully stoking the internal strife among the opposition in order to undermine them before the next election.

"The current government has orchestrated and financed the crisis that the Labour Party is currently experiencing." "Everyone is aware of it," El-Rufai said.

He charged that legal disputes were being utilized by the ruling party to undermine opposition leadership.

He claimed that the purpose of hopping from court to court was to divert the party leadership's attention from their own duties.

El-Rufai claims that other opposition parties, including as the PDP and the NNPP, where factional conflicts have gotten worse in recent months, are also being targeted using the same tactic.

"The PDP is experiencing the same issue. even within the NNPP. He claimed that certain individuals had been given the means to go and stir trouble in the NNPP.

The former governor cited the recent internal NNPP issue, in which a group of the party allegedly dismissed Abba Kabir Yusuf, the governor of Kano State, and Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso, the party's head.

The most recent information I came across regarding the NNPP stated that Kwankwaso and the current governor had been expelled by a group of the party. You can tell it's a staged crisis when you see things like that. Which party fires a governor in office? He asked, "And the only governor they have."

Although El-Rufai acknowledged that he did not have all the information regarding the purported government meddling, he maintained that the sequence of events pointed to intentional political sabotage.

"I don't know the specifics. I don't have the information, so I can't mention names," he continued.

El-Rufai's Voluntarism

El-Rufai made these remarks a few days after formally leaving the APC, claiming that the party had strayed from its original goals and ideals.

The former governor bemoaned in a Facebook remark that those who had abandoned the progressive principles that gave rise to the APC's establishment in 2013 had taken control of the party.

According to him, "developments over the past two years confirm that those in control and running the APC do not want to acknowledge, much less address, the unhealthy situation of the party."

The former Federal Capital Territory (FCT) minister disclosed that he had voiced his worries about the party's direction on numerous occasions, but the party's leadership had disregarded him.

"I have expressed concerns in private and, more recently, publicly about the party's erratic direction," he said.

El-Rufai, who played a significant role in the APC's electoral successes in 2015, 2019, and 2023, expressed dissatisfaction with the party's leadership and charged that it disregarded democratic ideals and marginalized its original members.

In the current APC, which has disregarded its members and castrated its organs in the past two years, these records don't really matter. This is unacceptable to me now," he remarked.

El-Rufai, who is currently a member of the SDP, has promised to mobilize opposition groups to run against the APC in the next elections. He emphasized the necessity of a robust opposition to overthrow the ruling party and urged Nigerians who want progressive governance to join him in the SDP.

Ahead of the general elections in 2027, political tensions are expected to rise in light of El-Rufai's desertion and the most recent accusations.

His allegations of government meddling raise new questions about Nigeria's democracy and political rivalry as opposition groups battle internal strife.