Former Kaduna State governor, Malam Nasir El-Rufai, has met with another chieftain of the Social Democratic Party (SDP), amid a defection allegation.
El-Rufai was pictured at the Abuja residence of Senator Abubakar Gada, along with SDP chairman Shehu Musa Gabam and other party leaders.
Also present were Senator Teslim Folarin, the All Progressives Congress (APC) gubernatorial candidate for Oyo State in the 2023 general elections, and Senator Nazif Suleiman, a chieftain of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) from Bauchi State.
This meeting at Senator Gada’s home in Abuja was held on Sunday night, March 24, 2024.
The meeting comes shortly after El-Rufai hosted President Bola Tinubu’s camp in the APC led by the national security adviser, Nuhu Ribadu at his residence in Abuja on Tuesday, March 20.
The former minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) also visited Gabam at the SDP secretariat.
While photos from these visits have sparked various reactions on social media, with many speculating about El-Rufai’s potential presidential bid in 2027, his media adviser, Muyiwa Adekeye, has denied any political motives behind the visits.
Adekeye stated that the speculations were merely an “unhealthy obsession with politics,” emphasizing that personal relationships can exist independently of political affiliations.
“”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,” he said.
In another development, Kano State Governor, Abba Kabir Yusuf, has said the state did not spend N6 billion on the Ramadan feeding programme.
Speaking at a press conference in his office yesterday, the Director-General on Media and Publicity to the governor, Sanusi Bature Dawakin-Tofa, said it has become imperative to avail the public of the actual amount earmarked for the programme.
“The actual amount earmarked and approved by the governor of Kano State for the 2024 Ramadan feeding is N1, 190, 790,000:00. This amount is expected to cater for 100 feeding centres across eight metropolitan local government areas with each center expected to feed at least one thousand people daily.”
“This programme aims to support those in need, particularly those who cannot be able to feed themselves during the holy month of Ramadan which includes; people living with disability, almajiris, orphans, and other vulnerable groups.
The governor on Friday paid an unscheduled visit to one of the 80 Ramadan meal cooking centres where he expressed dissatisfaction over the quality of the food prepared, despite allocating N1,197,700,000 for the programme.
