Former Kaduna State Governor, Nasir el-Rufai, has explained why he was not appointed as a minister in President Bola Tinubu’s cabinet.
In an interview with Arise TV on Monday, El-Rufai clarified that his exclusion was not due to opposition from the National Assembly, as widely believed, but was instead a decision made by President Tinubu.
El-Rufai shared that President Tinubu had initially invited him to join his cabinet. They discussed the possibility for several months, and at one point, the president publicly asked him to set aside his other plans.
“The president publicly appealed to me to put my plans on hold, and through two months of negotiation, we finally agreed that he will nominate me as minister,” El-Rufai explained. “There were certain conditions I attached to that. I think along the line either the president changed his mind or something else.”
He emphasized that the National Assembly did not block his nomination, saying, “Please don’t believe the story that the national assembly rejected me. The president did not want me in his cabinet. He changed his mind.”
El-Rufai’s comments provide clarity on the circumstances surrounding his absence from President Tinubu’s ministerial team.
