By our reporter
Immediate past governor of Kaduna State, Mallam Nasir El-Rufai, has opened a window into the sort of carrot allegedly thrown at him by President Bola Tinubu who sought his participation in his current administration.
He disclosed that Tinubu used the nation’s long-time electricity challenge to try to lure him onboard his then proposed government.
According to him, Tinubu appealed to and even begged him.
Speaking while fielding questions on Arise TV on Monday night, February 24, El-Rufai, however,claimed that his eventual absence from Tinubu’s cabinet was the making of the President himself and not that of the National Assembly, which had screened him for the position of Minister.
He said: “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.”
To El-Rufai, the President eventually did a volte-face and did not want him in his cabinet.
He said the National Assembly did not reject him because of a security report from the Department of State Services (DSS).
“Forget what you read. The National Assembly did not reject me. President Bola Tinubu changed his mind about working with me.
“The security thing was a good excuse they used. Since then, has anyone released that report telling us the security issue?”, he stated.
El-Rufai added: “I had the opportunity to serve my country. The person that gave me, took it back and that is not a problem.”
Asserting that he did not need to be in politics, he reminded everyone that he was a Minister about 20 years ago and right now, has a private life to live.
Recall that the then President Olusegun Obasanjo had appointed El-Rufai as Minister of Federal Capital Territory (FCT), a position he held from 2003-2007.
“Look, I was Minister 20 years ago. I don’t need to be in politics. I have a private life,”he declared.
The former governor, who is still in the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), the platform on which he became a two-term governor, is believed to be at odds with President Tinubu and elements in the party over their leadership style.
He said though he supports some of the administration’s economic policies, but that the sequencing of some of them is wrong just as he thumbed down the quality of persons hired to execute the policies.
His words: “I support some of the policies; most of the economic policies are the right orthodox policies, but the sequencing is wrong and the quality of the people implementing the reforms leaves much to be desired.
“And I think that some of the reforms are just wrong.
“You don’t address food inflation by destroying domestic agriculture. Food prices may be going down, but farmers are being impoverished because they are being made to compete with subsidised agricultural products from Europe and other countries.
“So I have issues with many of them, and I’m in touch with many senior officials of the administration, and I give them my opinion privately.”
Tinubu not doing well,he says
On his rating of the Tinubu government, El-Rufai said the President is not doing well, pointing out that he is not living up to Nigerians’ expectations to take them to the next level, against the backdrop of hype over his past records.
El-Rufai declared: “Two years after the election of President Tinubu, none of the party organs are functioning, the progressive ideals are not being pursued with vigour and the very high expectations we had of the president to take this country to the highest level based on his track record in Lagos is somehow not materializing.”
‘ Tinubu favouring his ‘boys’, not Yorubas, into high office’
Weighing in on Tinubu’s alleged lop-sided appointments in favour of the South-West, the President’s kinsmen, El-Rufai rather said the President was favouring his ‘boys’ from Lagos,and not the Yoruba kinsmen, into political offices.
“The president’s appointments are not being made because the appointees are Yoruba, but because they are his own boys. Most of the appointments do not even reasonably cover the South-West.
“So people should stop confusing the truth. The appointments are not balanced. Yes, definitely, definitely, right? You cannot argue that, but it’s not a Yoruba thing. Please don’t punish the Yorubas as you have been punishing Northerners for the sins of the military.
“Let’s focus on individuals and hold them accountable. President Tinubu needs to do something about that. It’s still not too late. He can correct it, but there is palpable anger in the North,” he stated.
