El-Rufai officially Joins ADC, dump SDP

Former Kaduna State Governor Nasir El-Rufai has officially joined the African Democratic Congress after completing his registration and receiving his membership card at the party’s ward office in Ungwar Sarki, Kaduna.

El-Rufai, one of the founding members of the All Progressives Congress, left the ruling party earlier in the year for the Social Democratic Party. His move to the ADC marks another major shift in his political journey after resigning from the APC on March 10.

In his resignation letter at the time, the former Minister of the Federal Capital Territory said he could no longer remain in a party he felt had abandoned the principles on which it was built. He accused the APC leadership of drifting from its founding ideals, arguing that the party had become unresponsive to internal concerns and no longer represented the progressive values it once promoted.

He said he had raised issues consistently for two years, both publicly and privately, about the direction of the party, but his concerns were repeatedly ignored. El-Rufai, who played a central role in the 2013 opposition merger that produced the APC, said the party had strayed too far from its original vision and showed no willingness to address what he called its “unhealthy” internal climate.

His entry into the ADC is seen as a significant development that could strengthen the party’s influence in Kaduna and beyond as political alignments continue ahead of future elections.

In his recent resignation letter from the SDP, dated November 26, 2025, El-Rufai said he was focused on helping build a unified democratic platform capable of offering Nigerians a credible political alternative. He formally notified the party that his membership ended effective that date.