Former Kaduna State Governor, Malam Nasir El-Rufai, has alleged that some individuals paid money to secure ministerial positions in President Bola Tinubu’s administration.
El-Rufai made the revelation during an interview with the BBC Hausa Service on Thursday.
“But did I even look for the ministerial position? I know those who even paid money to be appointed as ministers,” he declared.
His comment comes amid speculation that he left the All Progressives Congress because he was denied a ministerial appointment. However, El-Rufai insisted that he never sought the role and only attended the screening because President Tinubu personally pleaded with him to take on a ministerial position.
“Yes, I was at the screening because the President begged me. It was in the public glare, not the two of us for him to say he had never begged me. It was in Kaduna where he begged me to come and work with him. Even then, I did not agree until when we sat down and he told me what he wanted.”
According to the former governor, Tinubu wanted him to lead efforts to resolve Nigeria’s electricity crisis.
“That the problem of electricity had refused to allow the country to progress. He said he would like to be the President that would finally resolve the power problem and he begged me to come and help him achieve that. I told him that I would look at the challenge he gave me and would consider working with him. I thought he meant it.”
El-Rufai also explained that his decision to leave the APC was due to the party’s deviation from its founding principles.
“The APC has derailed; the party is no longer abiding by its founding principles. Everyone is working for himself, looking for money. The government is commercialised; everything has a price tag.”
He accused party leaders of sidelining those who worked for the APC’s success and instead rewarding a select group of individuals.
“Justice has been kept at bay, those who worked for the party were ignored instead of being compensated. If there is any position or appointment, they give it to a Lagos boy, etc.”
El-Rufai said his disillusionment with the APC led him to consult Pastor Tunde Bakare, who originally introduced him to the party.
“That is why we’ve been speaking. We spoke, we said this is not the party we know. The party is dead. I said the only option is for me to meet Pastor Tunde Bakare, because he dragged me into APC. He took me to Buhari. I did not join the APC because of Buhari; it was Pastor Bakare who dragged me to APC, and courtesy demands I should let him know.”
El-Rufai further revealed that he informed former President Muhammadu Buhari of his decision to leave the party and received his blessing.
“Buhari too, I told him I was leaving the party; I sought his blessings and prayers. He said he has given me his blessings and prayers. We are the ones in politics; he (Buhari) is now father of the land and has been praying for us, so what remains?”
The former governor dismissed suggestions that he left the APC to avoid being expelled, asserting that the party had already sidelined him.
“That would’ve been much easier for me, but look at it, as I kept on saying, I did not leave the party, it’s the party that dumped me. Why did it leave me? First of all, I was marginalised, not involved in all party activities. Not that I was invited and refused to honour the invite, I was completely sidelined.”
“Secondly, what we had planned to implement when we formed government, it’s not what’s being implemented.”
