Former Governor Nasir El–Rufai of Kaduna State has come under intense pressure to jettison the idea of dumping the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), to form a mega political party with some like minds. That was even as an ambassadorial appointment is being dangled before him as an alternative. It would be recalled that the El – Rufai, who played a major role in the formation of the APC in 2014, recently paid a visit to the secretariat of the Social Democratic Party (SDP), in reciprocation to the earlier visit of the National Chairman of the SDP, Shehu Musa Gabam, in company with National Security Adviser, Nuhu Ribadu and a chieftain of the APC, Kashim Ibrahim – Imam. The trio went to break their fast in El–Rufai’s Abuja home. However, some people are prevailing on him not to leave the party, which he helped in its formation and winning the elections in 2015, a credible source conversant with the issue confided in Sunday Telegraph. The Source said: “Some persons are trying to broker some rapprochement, telling him not to leave the party as a founding member of the APC, who played a major role; he should not jettison the party.

“However, the trouble at home is further putting pressure on him to find a new platform to become more relevant because the governor in his home state in his revelation has further damaged him in some way, his reputation as an astute manager of resources and men. “But some of his men are saying that the money was borrowed for some developmental purposes and therefore, what the loan was used for is very visible everywhere; that when you want to kick-start an infrastructural revolution, you need extra finances. That is making him more estranged from the party.” Furthermore, our source said that it was not without reason.

“He has two reasons why he is looking for another party,” our source adds: “Number one: He believes that he was deliberately schemed out of being minister of the federal republic by some entrenched interests and he believes that he was not duly rewarded for the key and critical role he played in the emergence of candidate Bola Ahmed Tinubu as the candidate of the APC and also his emergence as the president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. “He believes that he has not been well treated by the leadership of the party and by the government. His critical role has not been acknowledged and rewarded like others, who did not play half of the role he played. “So, it is obvious that he is very angry with the system and he believes that what he did in 2014, and 2015, leading to the formation of the APC can be done again. However, some persons from within the party are also said to be reaching out to him that he should not be angry.

“They are dangling before him the ambassadorial compensation. Whether that will materialize is another thing. “He also needs to be cleared in one way or the other. He is reluctant to take that leap because he believes that it may lead to another humiliation and of course, he also believes that some of the things happening in his home state are orchestrated to haunt him. “That is their response to his move in the last few days by people who believe that they will pay you back, you want to form a mega party. He believes that what is happening in his home state is being orchestrated by the same people, who denied him the ministerial slot.