The governing All Progressives Congress (APC) has hit back at former Kaduna State governor Nasir El-Rufai, describing him as a “wispish politician” over his repeated attacks on President Bola Tinubu.

In a scathing statement on Monday, APC spokesperson Felix Morka said that since Mr El-Rufai failed to secure a ministerial appointment under Mr Tinubu, he has gone into a “political tailspin,” hurling abuse at the government.

“Since his failed bid for a ministerial appointment, former Governor of Kaduna State, Mallam Nasir El-Rufai, has gone into a political tailspin. His speedy fall from commanding heights to the political clown he has become needs forensic study.

“His attack of President Bola Tinubu’s administration as incompetent, clannish and undeserving of a second term, at a meeting in Sokoto on Saturday, August 2, 2025, is yet another outburst of a waspish politician,” Mr Morka said.

Mr El-Rufai, during a public event held in Sokoto organised by a coalition of opposition figures in the African Democratic Congress (ADC), warned that Nigeria’s social capital may be completely destroyed if Mr Tinubu, who is seeking re-election, wins in 2027.

“I believe that if we allow this party and the government to continue for a second term in office, what remains of Nigeria’s social capital will be destroyed, and we may not have a country at all. So, this is a fight for our lives,” he said over the weekend.

But Mr Morka said the former Kaduna governor and his co-travellers in the ADC are clueless and rudderless, adding that the people are aware of their antics and desperation to seize power at all costs.

According to him, Mr El-Rufai and other ADC leaders cannot present policy prescriptions more effective than those already being implemented by Mr Tinubu’s administration.

“El-Rufai and his partners in African Democratic Congress (ADC) are the most confused, clueless, rudderless and pitiful opposition politicians our country has ever known. They bring nothing to the political table except their oversized ego, wild entitlement mentality, obscene desperation and predatory presidential ambitions,” the APC spokesman said.

He added: “If El-Rufai and his cohorts detest the administration’s policy reforms as much as they claim, why have they not presented policy proposals to restore fuel subsidy as it was and return the country to the ruinous era of fixing Naira’s value and operating multiple foreign exchange regimes that fed the greedy and insatiable appetite of the likes of El-Rufai, Atiku, Obi and Rotimi Amaechi for decades? And while at it, to tell Nigerians how they would finance the resultant massive deficit that would ground the economy to a devastating crumble.”

He accused Mr El-Rufai of leaving behind a legacy marred by ethnic and religious marginalisation, alleged sponsorship of sectarian violence, and controversial demolition exercises targeted at innocent citizens during his tenure.

“For a former Governor who left a sordid legacy of obnoxious marginalisation of ethnic and religious minorities in Southern Kaduna; who sponsored sectarian violence and weaponised demolitions against innocent citizens; and hung a debt profile of N284 billion on taxpayers, according to the Debt Management Office (DMO), El-Rufai is the poster child of bad governance and failed leadership.

“It is now clear to all Nigerians that El-Rufai and his cohorts in ADC are on a mission to upend the presidential rotational principle designed to promote national unity and cohesion in the country through the imposition of Atiku as presidential candidate of ADC in the middle of a southern presidency rotation,” he added.