El-Rufai Support Groups Leave ADC for APC, Back Uba Sani in Kaduna

A coalition of groups loyal to former Kaduna State Governor Nasir El-Rufai has announced its departure from the African Democratic Congress and backed Governor Uba Sani of the All Progressives Congress in the 2027 governorship race.

The coalition announced the switch on Thursday, 12 November, at the Kaduna State Council of the Nigeria Union of Journalists.

Its spokesman, Ibrahim Khalil Dan Kasa, said the groups were withdrawing their support for ADC governorship candidate Isa Ashiru and would use their ward and media networks to mobilise for Sani, News About Nigeria reports.

Dan Kasa, a former ADC state assembly candidate, said the decision followed consultations across Kaduna’s three senatorial districts.

He cited disagreements over the party’s choice of candidates in Kawo and Doka Gabasawa and said the coalition had yet to see a clear policy programme from Ashiru’s campaign.

He said the group still respected El-Rufai and had made its own decision about whom to support.

Ashiru’s spokesperson, Abdulwaheed Olayinka Adubi, described the departure as part of the normal movement between parties during an election cycle.

He said the ADC was also receiving defectors and that Ashiru’s campaign would continue. Dan Kasa put the number involved at more than 2,000, including ward coordinators, former candidates, aspirants and party officials.

The coalition’s figure could not be independently verified.