The newly-elected governorship candidate of the
All Progressives Congress in Kaduna State,
Mallam Nasir el-Rufai, has said that the Peoples
Democratic Party of today is a “criminal” party.
El-Rufai said the PDP he belonged to was
different from the one being headed by President
Goodluck Jonathan, saying the party no longer
had respect for the rules and processes.
He said, “It is a big mistake to say that the PDP
of 2003 is the same as the Jonathan’s PDP.
“The PDP that I was a member had rules and
processes. Let me give you one example. As a
minister of FCT, I demolished a house belonging
to the Chairman of the PDP.
“Today, no minister of the FCT can touch the
house of a member of the PDP National
Executive Committee. The PDP in 1999 was not
the same as the PDP of today. The PDP of
today is a criminal PDP.
“They have no regard for rules. They say that
they are Peoples Democratic Party but they have
no regard for the people and democracy.
“I was minister on the platform of the PDP but I
was not a minister because I was in PDP. I was
a minister on merit.”
He said he was not appointed a minister of the
Federal Capital Territory by ex-President
Olusegun Obasanjo as a member of the PDP but
as a technocrat.
El Rufai, who spoke during a courtesy visit to the
correspondent chapel of the Nigeria Union of
Journalists in Kaduna on Saturday, said the
incumbent Minister of Finance, Ngozi Okonjo-
Iweala; a former Minister of Education, Oby
Ezekwesili and himself were appointed by
Obasanjo as “technocrats” and not on the basis
of political party membership.
“The minister representing Kaduna State was
Nenadi Usman, because the governor of Kaduna
as at that time disowned me and said that I did
nothing for the party. But Obasanjo told him that
‘whether you like it or not this man is going to
be minister because I have a special assignment
for him,’” he said.
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