El-Rufai: Tinubu Rejected My Nomination As Minister, After Begging Me To Work With Him
Former Kaduna State Governor and a stalwart of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Nasir el-Rufai yesterday responded to a plethora of issues, especially relating to his relationship with President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, declaring that the president pointedly rejected him as a minister, and not the stage-managed National Assembly’s security report.
Speaking with Arise Television, in his first interview since exiting government in May 2023, el-Rufai, now a strong critic of his party, the APC as well as the Tinubu’s administration, maintained that there was no doubt that the president changed his mind against appointing him as the minister of power.
El-Rufai reiterated that Tinubu begged him to work with him initially, but that it was surprising that the Nigerian leader hid under the cover of a so-called security report to ease him out of his government.
Having been a specialist adviser, minister and governor, el-Rufai stated that the talk of a rejection of his ministerial nomination due to a security report did not make sense.
The former governor stated that although he told Tinubu he did not want to be a minister, the president prevailed on him that he wanted him (el-Rufai) to sort out Nigeria’s intractable power challenges as minister.
Describing himself as a ‘self-made man’, the former Director General of the Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE), rubbished insinuations that he could defect to the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), hinting that although he was ready to work with any other party in 2027, the PDP was out of the question.
As it is today, el-Rufai argued that nobody in the region will vote for Tinubu in the north, stressing that there’s palpable anger against the current administration.
Disclosing that he supports some of the current administration’s economic policies, el-Rufai however stated that the sequencing is wrong.
Besides, el-Rufai stated that the quality of the people implementing the reforms leaves much to be desired, pointing out that some of the reforms are just wrong outright.
According to el-Rufai, although he might still support a southerner in 2027, just like he did in 2023, a lot of consultations will have to be carried out before the decision is taken.
