The Presidency says El-Rufai is “hurt over ministerial rejection“.
Epe Insights had reported earlier that the immediate past governor of Kaduna State, Nasir El-Rufai, said President Bola Tinubu rejected him, not the National Assembly, despite begging him to become a minister in his cabinet.
“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.
El-Rufai who recently declared that he no longer recognises the APC because the party organs have not met in the past two years, said he had concerns about how the All Progressives Congress, APC, was being run since Tinubu assumed office as President.
Speaking on Arise Television’s programme, Prime Time, on Monday night, February 24, 2025, El-Rufai said: “I’m a founding member of the APC and still a member, but I have concerns about how the party is being run, and I have expressed those concerns.
“I expressed those concerns because I feel like a father who has given birth to a child. I know the investment and compromises we had to make to build what is now the APC.
“I have no issues with Tinubu’s administration. People say I’m a critic, but I have never said a word about the Tinubu administration.
Reacting to the interview, the Special Adviser on Information and Strategy to the President, Bayo Onanuga, said it is time for El-Rufai to move on and stop behaving like a child crying over spilled milk.
The Presidential spokesman said El-Rufai’s reaction was natural after being rejected as a minister.
In an interview with Channels Television’s Sunrise Daily, Onanuga said: “As a person, I think I will pity the former governor of Kaduna State, Nasir El-Rufai. He feels hurt that he was not made a minister. I think it is time for him to move on. He can’t continue to behave like a child, as if somebody stole his bread and he is crying.
“It’s natural for him to feel hurt about being excluded, and the president acknowledged in his birthday message that Nasir helped a lot in installing Tinubu. If he’s not there, it doesn’t mean he should bring down the roof.
“The president has no animosity against Nasir. He naturally feels hurt that he has been excluded, so he goes about campaigning against the president and would not let go.
“He should forget about not being made a minister. He has been in public service since 1999; it’s time for him to move on.”
