A former Governor of Kaduna State, Nasir El-Rufai, accused some people of paying for the appointment of some ministers in the government of President Bola Tinubu. Making the daring assertion in a BBC Hausa recent interview, El-Rufai was responding to his being omitted from Tinubu’s cabinet.
In July 2023, Tinubu submitted a list of ministerial nominees to the Senate, which included El-Rufai, for screening. The Senate, however, withheld his confirmation on security threat grounds. When asked if he left the All Progressives Congress (APC) because he was denied the ministerial slot, El-Rufai did not think so, claiming that he did not want the slot.
“Yes, they say that, but did I vie for minister? I know some who paid money first before they included their names as ministers,” he revealed.
El-Rufai went on to maintain that Tinubu personally implored him to join the administration, specifically to address Nigeria’s age-long power challenge.
“Mr. President begged me, and even the whole world knows that he begged me at Kaduna. He asked me to come and serve with him,” El-Rufai said.
“He told me he would like me to address the issue of electricity because all the previous presidents had failed, and he wanted to be the one to resolve it.
Because of this challenge, I thought he was genuine.”
Even while remaining loyal to his decision to support Tinubu in the 2023 elections, El-Rufai admitted that he is disappointed with the direction of the administration. El-Rufai officially resigned from the APC on Monday, March 10, and defected to the Social Democratic Party (SDP), a major political realignment.
