The immediate past governor of Kaduna State, Malam Nasir El-Rufai, has explained why he visited the national headquarters of the Social Democratic Party (SDP) in Abuja.

El-Rufai had on Wednesday visited the SDP national secretariat, fuelling speculation that the former Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) was on the verge of defecting from the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).

But El-Rufai’s spokesman, Mr. Muyiwa Adekeye, has dismissed such speculation.

He noted that unfounded speculations about El-Rufai have become “an industry that has delivered tons of lies and clickbaits in the last 18 years.”

Adekeye in an X post on Thursday, March 21, 2024, justified El-Rufai’s visit to the SDP secretariat.

According to him, the former governor only paid a return visit to the SDP National Chairman, Shehu Musa Gabam, who was in his house earlier on Tuesday for Itfar.

Gabam was present in El-Rufai’s Abuja residence on Tuesday with the National Security Adviser (NSA), Nuhu Ribadu; Kashim Iman, an ally of Mr. President and others.

Adekeye wrote: “I consider the most recent speculations about Malam Nasir @elrufai as reflecting an unhealthy obsession with politics.

“People have personal histories and relationships that predate political affiliations. It cannot be a hallmark of civilisation to have friends from within only your political party. When people visit each other or mingle across party lines, it is because human relationships exist, distinct from the political or the partisan.

“Malam Nasir @elrufai is a senior member of the APC, one of the signatories to its merger documents, and a significant contributor to the party’s demonstrated viability. These contributions do not require that he treats friends as anathema on account of politics or maintains an antiseptic distance from them.

“Malam Nasir @elrufai hosted some friends to Iftar on Tuesday, 19 March 2024. NSA Nuhu Ribadu was at the Iftar with a senior APC figure like Alhaji Kashim Imam. SDP National Chairman Shehu Musa Gabam was among the friends who partook in the Iftar. Gabam was not accused of considering crossing over to the APC on account of that.

“When Malam Nasir @elrufai visited Gabam the next day, he was merely returning a visit to a friend who happens to be SDP chairman.

“Malam El-Rufai is known for being open and forthright. If he had any political decisions to make, it would not be in character to let them be subject to speculation.

“Unfounded speculations about Malam Nasir @elrufai have become an industry that has delivered tons of lies and clickbaits in the last 18 years. This is unlikely to abate anytime soon, given the persistent obsession of its purveyors who relish in negativity and their tireless indulgence in conflating assumption with fact.

“A recent instance was when he visited former presidents late in 2023 to explain his Nigerian governance study book project covering each of their tenures, the speculators said it was about politics! That is why it is sometimes necessary to clarify matters lest the unwary be taken in.”

The Star