In a surprising turn of events, former Governor of Kaduna State, Nasir El-Rufai, has announced his decision to withdraw his interest in serving as a minister in President Bola Tinubu’s cabinet.
According to an exclusive report from Premium Times, it was revealed that El-Rufai made this decision known to the President during a meeting on Tuesday. He explained that he would prefer to contribute to the development of Nigeria as a private citizen and also focus on his doctorate program in the Netherlands.
During the meeting, he also recommended a new nominee for the ministerial position in Kaduna State, Jafaru Ibrahim Sani. He highlighted Sani’s experience as a commissioner in three ministries while he was governor and expressed confidence in his ability to be useful and resourceful to the president.
It is worth noting that the Senate recently confirmed 45 ministerial nominees, excluding El-Rufai and two others, due to security reports from the State Security Service. Upon learning of the Senate’s action, El-Rufai quickly scheduled a meeting with President Tinubu.
During this meeting, the President mentioned that there were petitions critical of his nomination and requested 24 hours to review them and the security report before making a decision.
Surprisingly, he responded by stating that he is no longer interested in the ministerial position, as it seemed that some forces around the President were working to block his appointment.
Previously, he had revealed that President Tinubu asked him to work on solving the country’s power problem, setting a target of seven years to end power outages.
Despite his withdrawal from the ministerial appointment, he intends to present the preliminary work done in the energy sector with his team. The team includes individuals such as Hafiz Bayero, Eyo Ekpo, Ayodele Oni, and Tolu Oyekan. They will present their findings to the President on Wednesday.
It is unclear what caused the sudden shift in El-Rufai’s relationship with President Tinubu, leading to the blocking of his ministerial nomination. Muyiwa Adekeye, El-Rufai’s media advisor, declined to comment on the matter.
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