Former Kaduna State Governor, Nasir El-Rufai, has stated that President Bola Tinubu was solely responsible for his exclusion from the ministerial list, dismissing claims that the National Assembly rejected his nomination over security concerns.
Speaking on Monday during an interview on Arise TV’s Prime Time, El-Rufai made it clear that the Senate had no role in his non-confirmation, asserting that Tinubu simply did not want him in his cabinet.
“The National Assembly had nothing to do with it, the president didn’t want me in his cabinet,” El-Rufai said.
The former governor, a founding member of the All Progressives Congress (APC), also criticised the party’s leadership, lamenting that its organs had been inactive since Tinubu assumed office.
“I’m a founding member of the APC, but I have concern about how the party is being run… how many people sacrificed a lot to ensure that it was an internally democratic party with progressive ideals, two years after the election of President of Tinubu, none of the party organs is functioning. The progressive ideals are not being pursued with any vigour,” he said.
El-Rufai revealed that after extensive negotiations, Tinubu personally sought his support and assured him of a ministerial position, subject to certain conditions. However, the president later reversed the decision.
“Since I left office and the president begged me publicly to support him, I said I would and I don’t want anything. I am a self-made man I don’t need anything. Through two months of negotiations we finally agreed that he would nominate me as minister and there were certain conditions I attached to that, along the line, either the president changed his mind. Please don’t believe the story that the National Assembly rejected me, they had nothing to do with it, the president didn’t want me in his cabinet,” he added.
Addressing the claim that his nomination was rejected due to security concerns, El-Rufai challenged the assertion, insisting there was no such report against him.
“What was the security issue the National Assembly had against me? Where is the report? There were far less qualified, less experienced that scaled through because the president made a call. He is a human being he’s entitled to change his mind,” he said.
