Former Kaduna State governor Nasir El-Rufai has formally joined the African Democratic Congress (ADC), months after his departure from the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).
On Thursday, El-Rufai completed his registration and collected his ADC membership card at the party’s office in Unguwar Sarki Ward, Kaduna State.
El-Rufai had publicly resigned from the APC on March 10, 2025, citing a wide gap between his personal principles and the direction the party had taken.
He accused the APC of abandoning the progressive ideals on which it was built, alleging that the party’s leadership has run its affairs without internal democracy and sidelined its founding members.
At the time, he declared his intention to join the Social Democratic Party (SDP), presenting it as the right platform for his future political engagements.
But the SDP abruptly expelled him in July 2025, accusing him of indiscipline, document forgery, and secretly negotiating with the ADC.
That expulsion cleared the path for his new alignment with the ADC — a move that he and fellow allies argue is part of a broader effort to collapse the Kaduna chapter of the SDP into the ADC and build a renewed opposition force ahead of upcoming elections.
El-Rufai has long voiced concern about what he perceives as institutional decay within the APC: for him, the party no longer reflects the values of internal democracy, accountability, or the original progressive vision.
He argued that over the past two years, he repeatedly raised alarms about the party’s direction. Yet, according to him, the current leadership has shown no willingness to address structural problems.
