Nasir El-Rufai, former Governor of Kaduna State, has claimed that he was not actually rejected by the National Assembly as a ministerial nominee, contradicting public perception of events from August 2023.
During a Monday interview on Arise TV Prime Time, El-Rufai provided new details about what happened when the Senate withheld his confirmation as a ministerial nominee. While official reports cited security concerns from the State Security Service, El-Rufai claims President Bola Tinubu simply changed his mind.
Read Also: El-Rufai accuses Tinubu of favouritism, says he’s appointing “his own boys”
“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 some time 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,” El-Rufai said. “Please, don’t 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.”
El-Rufai then clarified that the PDP is not a political party he would consider joining. He also revealed that during the 2023 elections, he was “indifferent” about who became president.
“It should be clear that the fact that I’m in the APC doesn’t mean that I cannot visit a friend of mine who is in the PDP or SDP. So anytime I visit anyone that is not in APC, they say, ‘Oh, he’s thinking of leaving the party.’ In fact, about two months ago, one character in Kaduna posted on his Facebook page that I’ve collected a PDP membership card in my ward. It was totally untrue,” he explained. “But PDP, no. Other parties, possibly, if the APC doesn’t sort itself out.”
English (US) ·