Nasir El-Rufai, former governor of Kaduna, has formally joined the African Democratic Congress (ADC) months after defecting to the Social Democratic Party (SDP).
El-Rufai completed his registration with the ADC and received his membership card at the party office in Ungwan Sarki ward in Kaduna.
The former Federal Capital Territory (FCT) minister arrived at the venue with a number of his supporters, including ex-aides and LG chairmen.
El-Rufai, who played a central role in the merger that birthed the All Progressives Congress (APC) ahead of the 2015 elections, accused the party of straying from its founding mission.
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The former Kaduna governor briefly joined the SDP but was expelled and declared ineligible to associate with the party in any capacity for the next 30 years.
In his resignation letter from the SDP dated 26 November 2025, the former governor said his priority is to help strengthen a broad democratic alliance capable of offering Nigerians a credible alternative.
“I wish to notify you that I have resigned my membership of the SDP, effective 26 November 2025,” the letter reads.
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“My focus remains on making my contributions to strengthening a unified democratic platform to offer a political alternative to the people of Nigeria.”
On 10 March, el-Rufai said he left the APC because the party’s current direction no longer aligned with his personal values.
In the resignation letter he issued at the time, el-Rufai accused the APC leadership of abandoning the progressive principles that shaped the party at its inception.
“Developments in the last two years confirm that there is no desire on the part of those who currently control and run the APC to acknowledge, much less address, the unhealthy situation of the party,” he said.
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He added that he had repeatedly warned the party leadership about its declining trajectory over the past two years, but his concerns were neither considered nor addressed.
In May, TheCable reported that opposition leaders had agreed to adopt the ADC as the platform to challenge the APC in the 2027 general election.
Those in the coalition include Rotimi Amaechi, former minister of transport; Atiku Abubakar, former vice-president; Peter Obi, Labour Party presidential candidate in 2023; and John Oyegun, former APC chairman.
Others are Uche Secondus, former PDP national chairman; Sam Egwu, former governor of Ebonyi; Aminu Tambuwal, former governor of Sokoto; and Liyel Imoke, former governor of Cross River.
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