The Presidency has said that the former Governor of Kaduna State, Malam Nasir El-Rufai, should stop behaving like a child and move on with his life, having failed the Senate screening to be in President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s cabinet.
Special Adviser on Information and Strategy to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, Bayo Onanuga, says Nasir El-Rufai is disappointed for being left out during the President’s ministerial appointment.
In August 2023, the Senate withheld El-Rufai’s confirmation as a ministerial nominee, citing security reports.
With the fallout of the ministerial appointment, El-Rufai has recently become critical of the Tinubu administration and the All Progressives Congress (APC).
Speaking during an interview on Arise TV on Monday, El-Rufai claimed that President Tinubu himself rejected him as a Minister, not the Senate.
“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 through two months of negotiations, we finally agreed that he would nominate me as minister, and there were certain conditions I attached to that. Along the line, the president changed his mind or something else.
“I think along the line, the President changed his mind or something else. Please don’t believe the story that the National Assembly rejected me. The National Assembly had nothing to do with this; the President didn’t want me in his cabinet, so he changed his mind. I don’t care whatever it is, and I’ve moved on.
“Since I’ve moved on, I’ve not said a word, I’ve not granted an interview, I’ve not commented on the government, but it is within my right as a founding member of the All Progressives Congress to ask why the party isn’t functioning,” he said.
But speaking on Channels Television on Tuesday, Onanuga said that even though the former FCT minister worked hard for Tinubu’s emergence as president, he must move on from the disappointment of not being made a minister.
He said: “I will pity former Kaduna State governor Mallam Nasir El-Rufai; he feels hurt that he was not made a minister.
“It has been long since the cabinet was formed in August 2023. I think it is time for him to move on. He cannot continue to behave like a child, as if someone stole his bread… crying over spilt milk, as we say.”
While acknowledging that it is not out of place for El-Rufai to feel aggrieved, having worked hard for Tinubu’s election, Onanuga said that the President is not denying his efforts.
“It is natural for him to feel bad that he has been excluded. I think the president has acknowledged in a recent tribute to him that Nasir did a lot in installing President Tinubu, and if he is not there, it doesn’t mean he will bring down the roof,” he said
