Former Kaduna State Governor Nasir El-Rufai has formally registered as a member of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), deepening the political repositioning that has defined his recent moves across Nigeria’s party landscape.
El-Rufai completed his registration at the ADC’s Ungwar Sarki Ward office in Kaduna, where party officials presented him with his membership card. His decision comes after a series of high-profile departures, first from the All Progressives Congress (APC)—a party he helped establish in 2013—and later from the Social Democratic Party (SDP), which he briefly joined earlier this year.
The former Minister of the Federal Capital Territory resigned from the APC on March 10, citing what he described as a departure from the founding principles that shaped the party’s formation. In his exit letter, El-Rufai accused the APC leadership of abandoning its core values, claiming the party had grown distant from internal democratic demands and no longer represented the progressive ideals it once championed.
For two years, he said, he repeatedly raised alarm—both publicly and behind closed doors—over what he viewed as the troubling direction of the ruling party. Those concerns, he insisted, were consistently dismissed. El-Rufai, who played a key role in the opposition merger that produced the APC in 2013, maintains that the party has drifted far from its original mission and remains unwilling to confront what he called its “unhealthy” internal culture.
His formal move to the ADC is now seen as the opening chapter of a new political journey, one that is expected to boost the party’s influence in Kaduna State and reshape alignments ahead of upcoming elections.
In his resignation letter from the SDP, dated November 26, 2025, El-Rufai stated that his priority is to contribute to a single democratic platform capable of presenting Nigerians with a credible alternative. He formally notified the party of his withdrawal, emphasizing his commitment to building a broader coalition.