.Says Tinubu changed his mind on nomination
By Caleb Ishaya, Abuja and Rahila Abdullahi, Kaduna
More than one year after a botched ministerial nomination, a Chieftain of the All Progressives Congress, APC, and immediate past governor of Kaduna State , Mallam Nasir El-Rufai, has yesterday said that he was not rejected by the National Assembly as a ministerial nominee rather President Tinubu changed his mind on me.
AljazirahNigeria recalls that in August 2023, the Senate withheld the confirmation of El-Rufai as a ministerial nominee, citing security reports from the Department of State Services.
El-Rufai, while featuring in an interview on Arise TV, last night bare his mind and set the record straight that President Bola Tinubu simply whom he worked hard to deliver , publicly pleaded with him to serve under his government as a Minister, after much persuasion and conditions I gave him “changed his mind on nomination”.
According to him, “After serving for eight years as governor of Kaduna State, I had my plans.
“The President publicly appealed to me to put my plans on hold and after a few weeks of deliberation, we finally agreed that he would nominate me as a minister, and there were certain conditions I attached to that. I think along the line, either the president changed his mind or something else.
“Please, for the record, do not believe the story that the National Assembly rejected me. The President didn’t want me in his cabinet, he changed his mind. Whatever it is, frankly, I don’t care”, he said. Asked if he is perturbed about his rejection. El-Rufai said , No! That he has moved on and hasn’t spoken about Tinubu’s government rather has written and visited key APC Members including the past Chairmen to ask them a simple but pertinent question bothering on party internal democracy.
Asked if he is okay with Tinubu’s administration, the onetime Minister of FCT, said: “President Tinubu’s appointment are quite imbalance. Do not blame the South-West for what one individual is doing.
“So, people should stop confusing the truth. The appointments are not balanced. Yes, definitely, right? You cannot argue that, but it’s not a Yoruba thing. Please don’t punish the Yorubas as you have been punishing northerners for the sins of the military”, El-Rufai said.
Let us focus on individuals and hold them accountable. “President Tinubu needs to do something about that. It is still not too late. He can correct it, but there is palpable anger in the north.
“The security thing was a good excuse they used.
“Since then, has anyone released that report telling us the security issue?
“Look, I was a Minister 20 years ago. I do not need to be in politics. I have a private life.
“Tinubu appealed to me and begged me. He threw me a challenge that no president has sorted out electricity problems. He said you and I can do it. it was the challenge that made me accept it.
“I had the opportunity to serve my country. The person that gave me took it back and that is not a problem”.
He described himself as an accomplished man who accidentally became a politician. El-Rufai recalled that he never planned to become a politician, that Obiagaeri , himself and Madam Okonjo,
El-Rufai said, he is not perturbed and has moved on , however , he must set the record straight.
El-Rufai said that the North including himself agreed in Kaduna to support Tinubu , from the Southern part of the State. He accused the NDA of openly sicm
