Defection: Bwala’s Strange Criticism of El-Rufai 

The Special Adviser to the President Bola Tinubu on Media and Policy, Daniel Bwala, last week shocked many Nigerians with his claim that the defection of the former governor of Kaduna, Nasir El-Rufai from the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) was fuelled by his “inordinate ambition”.

El-Rufai who has remained inconsolable since he was denied confirmation as minister in President Tinubu’s cabinet, had announced his resignation from the APC to join the Social Democratic Party (SDP), claiming that his values no longer align with the ruling party.

Reacting to the development, Bwala, a former spokesperson for the Atiku Abubakar Presidential Campaign, said el-Rufai’s defection and proposed coalition with the opposition is not “an ideology but an inordinate ambition that is destined to fail”.

Taking to his X, Bwala wrote: “Senior, el-Rufai, I read the news today that you resigned from APC to join SDP. Well, I have nothing against you because you exercised your constitutional right. However, the motive is what we would interrogate in the coming days and remind Nigerians that you are not a phenomenal that emerges like a clap of thunder out of a blue sky. We would intellectually remind you that associating with sore losers to unseat the incumbent is not an ideology, nor is it progressivism; it is simply an inordinate ambition that is destined to fail.”

But his comments instantly triggered widespread reactions, with many questioning his moral justification for criticising el-Rufai.

Others wondered why the same Bwala who never supported Tinubu but defected from the PDP to APC long after Tinubu assumed office, could throw jabs at another politician for defecting.

They reminded him that he was once the spokesperson of one of those sore losers too.

One of those who responded to Bwala, accused him of hypocrisy, asking him if it was about ideology when strange bedfellows like el-Rufai, Tinubu, Atiku and others associated with Muhammadu Buhari to unseat an incumbent in 2015, it was an ideology then.

They noted that it was the same way Bwala vowed that he would never move back to the APC when he was with Atiku was the way el-Rufai vowed that he would remain in APC till the end of his life.

Many believe that with men like El-Rufai and Bwala dominating the political landscape, ideology has been thrown to the dogs.