Nasir el-Rufai, former governor of Kaduna, says Nigerians should not believe the narrative that the national assembly rejected him as a ministerial
Nasir el-Rufai, former governor of Kaduna, says Nigerians should not believe the narrative that the national assembly rejected him as a ministerial nominee.
el-Rufai said President Bola Tinubu did not want him in his cabinet.
The former Kaduna governor said the president begged him publicly to suspend his plans and take up the ministerial appointment.
“The president publicly appealed to me to put my plans on hold, and through two months of negotiation, we finally agreed that he will nominate me as minister,” he said.
“There were certain conditions I attached to that. I think along the line, either the president changed his mind or something else. Please don’t believe the story that the national assembly rejected me. The president did not want me in his cabinet. He changed his mind.”
In July 2023, Tinubu sent the list of ministerial nominees, including el-Rufai, to the senate for screening and confirmation.
The development was interpreted by political analysts as a move to whittle down the influence of the former Kaduna governor.
Reacting to the senate’s refusal to screen him, el-Rufai said the security clearance cited by the upper chamber was a smokescreen.
The former Kaduna governor questioned what security concerns could have prevented his confirmation, given that he had spent over two decades in public service.
He added that ministerial nominees who are less qualified were confirmed by the senate because the president made a call.
El-Rufai said the president initially wanted him to fix the country’s electricity challenge.
“What was the security issue? I had been a governor for eight years in one of the most difficult states in the country. I had been a minister twenty years earlier. I have been in public life for the last 25 years,” el-Rufai added.
“Where is the report? What about other ministers who are far less qualified, less experienced with huge controversies around them, but they scaled through because the president made a call?”
