Former Kaduna State governor, Nasir El-Rufai, on Thursday, formally joined the African Democratic Congress.
El-Rufai completed his registration and received his membership card at the ADC office in Ungwar Sarki Ward, Kaduna State.
The former governor, who is a founding member of the All Progressives Congress, left the ruling party earlier this year for the Social Democratic Party.
His move marks a significant step in his political realignment, following his resignation from the APC on March 10. At that time, in his resignation letter, the former Minister of the Federal Capital Territory said he could no longer remain in a party he believed had drifted from the principles that guided its formation.
El-Rufai had accused the APC leadership of abandoning its founding ideals, warning that the party had become unresponsive to internal concerns and no longer embodied the progressive values it once championed.
He said for two years he persistently raised issues—both publicly and behind closed doors—about what he described as APC’s troubling direction, but his concerns were repeatedly ignored.
El-Rufai, a key figure in the 2013 opposition merger that produced APC, said the party had strayed far from its original vision. He noted that recent developments indicated little willingness among those in control of APC to acknowledge or address what he termed the party’s “unhealthy” internal climate.
His official move to ADC signals his next political chapter, strengthening the party’s profile in Kaduna State and beyond as political realignments continue ahead of future elections.
In his resignation letter from SDP, dated November 26, 2025, the former governor stated that his focus is on contributing to the creation of a unified democratic platform capable of offering a credible political alternative to the people of Nigeria.
“I wish to notify you that I have resigned my membership of the Social Democratic Party, SDP, effective 26 November 2025,” he said.
