By John Ogunsemore

Former Governor of Kaduna State, Mallam Nasir El-Rufai said he would never join the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) should he decide to quit the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).

El-Rufai made this known in an Arise TV interview on Monday.

However, he has not ruled out the possibility of leaving the APC if the party continues to ignore its founding principles.

The vocal El-Rufai has been critical of the ruling APC in recent times, hinging his criticism on poor internal democracy within the party.

“I don’t know where I will end up if the APC doesn’t come back to where we started. But one thing I can tell you for sure is that PDP is not a party that I will go to, ever.

“I have thought about that. I’ve decided that long ago, and nothing has changed. In fact, if anything PDP has gotten worse, rule out PDP,” he said.

El-Rufai said his meetings with friends from other political platforms have been misconstrued.

“It should be clear that the fact that I’m in the APC doesn’t mean that I cannot visit a friend of mine who is in the PDP or SDP.

“So anytime I visit anyone that is not in APC, they say, ‘Oh, he’s thinking of leaving the party.’ In fact, about two months ago, one character in Kaduna posted on his Facebook page that I’ve collected a PDP membership card in my ward. It was totally untrue,” he said.

As speculations about El-Rufai’s political future continue following his meeting with some PDP leaders in Kaduna, the ex-governor maintained that he reserved the right to meet people who seek his audience but such meetings should not be mistaken for defection.

“I met with PDP leadership in Kaduna a couple of days ago. The state leadership of the party came to see me, and I will meet with them. You know, I’m a public figure in my state, and at my age, and based on the responsibilities I have held, I am a leader of some sort,” he said.

He added, “If people say they want to see me, I’m not going to say, ‘You are PDP, I won’t see you,’ or ‘You are SDP’, I will only meet with APC people.’ It is my duty to meet with everyone. It is my duty to guide and mentor young people across partisan divides. So, I meet with people but the moment I meet with everyone, everything is reduced to politics.”