{"id":160872,"date":"2025-04-29T18:50:21","date_gmt":"2025-04-29T17:50:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/uncategorized\/i-have-never-prioritised-individuals-over-nigeria-el-rufai"},"modified":"2025-04-30T19:47:10","modified_gmt":"2025-04-30T18:47:10","slug":"i-have-never-prioritised-individuals-over-nigeria-el-rufai","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/i-have-never-prioritised-individuals-over-nigeria-el-rufai","title":{"rendered":"I have never prioritised individuals over Nigeria \u2013 El-Rufai"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"color: #ff6600\"><strong>Africa-Press &#8211; Nigeria. <\/strong><\/span>Former Kaduna State Governor, Malam Nasir Ahmad El-Rufai, has emphasised that his political loyalty has always been to Nigeria rather than to individuals or political parties.<\/p>\n<p>Speaking during a visit to Kano, where he met the Emir of Kano, Muhammadu Sanusi II, and leaders of the Social Democratic Party (SDP), El-Rufai said his decision to join the SDP was aimed at supporting the creation of a credible political alternative.<\/p>\n<p>According to him, the SDP offers a fresh platform free from the \u201cgodfatherism\u201d and dysfunction that, he claimed, have plagued the All Progressives Congress (APC) and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).<\/p>\n<p>\u201cTwelve years ago, we formed the APC and unseated an incumbent president, but today\u2019s circumstances demand a different strategy. We are rallying disillusioned Nigerians under the SDP, which stands for fairness and internal democracy,\u201d he stated.<\/p>\n<p>El-Rufai dismissed suggestions that his recent political moves were driven by personal grievances, maintaining that he has no further ambitions to prove.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019m 65 years old. I could retire comfortably, but Nigeria is facing an existential crisis. My actions are about saving the country, not personal advancement,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>Addressing the issue of leadership, the former governor, who previously advocated for a power shift to the South, stressed that Nigeria\u2019s urgent challenges required capable leadership over regional considerations.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOur problems are too deep for us to be fixated on where the next president comes from. What matters now is competence, vision, and the capacity to fix Nigeria,\u201d he asserted.<\/p>\n<p>On recent defections to the APC, El-Rufa\u2019i said the SDP is focused on grassroots mobilisation rather than wooing high-profile politicians.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cA governor has just one vote. It is the people, not politicians, who win elections,\u201d he noted.<\/p>\n<p>He also rejected claims that the SDP\u2019s growth was limited to certain regions, revealing that nationwide coalition-building efforts were ongoing.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe are building quietly across the South as well. Real nation-building happens at the grassroots, not in media spectacles,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>Defending his criticism of the APC, El-Rufai pointed out that he had consistently spoken out when things went wrong under President Muhammadu Buhari\u2019s administration, particularly during the controversial naira redesign policy.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhen policies hurt Nigerians, I raised my voice \u2014 even against a government led by my party. I have never placed loyalty to individuals above loyalty to Nigeria,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>El-Rufai called on young Nigerians not to lose hope and urged them to join the movement for a better future.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNigeria gave me opportunities, even though I was orphaned at the age of eight. We cannot abandon it to corrupt politicians. It\u2019s time to rebuild a country where every child can dream and achieve,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n<p><strong>For More News And Analysis About <span style=\"color: #ff6600\">Nigeria<\/span> Follow <span style=\"color: #ff6600\">Africa-Press<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Africa-Press &#8211; Nigeria. Former Kaduna State Governor, Malam Nasir Ahmad El-Rufai, has emphasised that his political loyalty has always been to Nigeria rather than to individuals or political parties. Speaking during a visit to Kano, where he met the Emir of Kano, Muhammadu Sanusi II, and leaders of the Social Democratic Party (SDP), El-Rufai said [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":160871,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[24,14],"tags":[17056,17055,17054,15520,254],"class_list":["post-160872","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-policy","tag-and","tag-joins-sdp","tag-malam-nasir-ahmad-el-rufai","tag-muhammadu-sanusi-ii","tag-nigeria"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.1 (Yoast SEO v27.0) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>I have never prioritised individuals over Nigeria \u2013 El-Rufai - Nigeria<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Former Kaduna State Governor, Malam Nasir Ahmad El-Rufai, has emphasised that his political loyalty has always been to N ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/i-have-never-prioritised-individuals-over-nigeria-el-rufai\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"I have never prioritised individuals over Nigeria \u2013 El-Rufai\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Former Kaduna State Governor, Malam Nasir Ahmad El-Rufai, has emphasised that his political loyalty has always been to N ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/i-have-never-prioritised-individuals-over-nigeria-el-rufai\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Nigeria\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-04-29T17:50:21+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-04-30T18:47:10+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/sites\/3\/2025\/04\/sm_1745940393.030503.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"768\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"727\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/i-have-never-prioritised-individuals-over-nigeria-el-rufai#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/i-have-never-prioritised-individuals-over-nigeria-el-rufai\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"I have never prioritised individuals over Nigeria \u2013 El-Rufai\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-04-29T17:50:21+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-04-30T18:47:10+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/i-have-never-prioritised-individuals-over-nigeria-el-rufai\"},\"wordCount\":465,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/i-have-never-prioritised-individuals-over-nigeria-el-rufai#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/sites\/3\/2025\/04\/sm_1745940393.030503.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"and\",\"joins SDP\",\"Malam Nasir Ahmad El-Rufai\",\"Muhammadu Sanusi II\",\"Nigeria\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"Policy\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/i-have-never-prioritised-individuals-over-nigeria-el-rufai#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/i-have-never-prioritised-individuals-over-nigeria-el-rufai\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/i-have-never-prioritised-individuals-over-nigeria-el-rufai\",\"name\":\"I have never prioritised individuals over Nigeria \u2013 El-Rufai - 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