National Assembly didn’t reject me as minister, Tinubu did – El-Rufai

National Assembly didn’t reject me as minister, Tinubu did – El-Rufai

Nasir El-Rufai, former governor of Kaduna State, says he was not rejected by the National Assembly as a ministerial nominee.

In August 2023, the Senate withheld the confirmation of El-Rufai as a ministerial nominee, citing security reports from the State Security Service for the action.

But speaking on Monday during an interview on Arise TV, El-Rufai said President Bola Tinubu simply “changed his mind on the nomination”

“After serving for eight years as governor of Kaduna state, I had my plans. The President publicly appealed to me 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. I think along the line, either the president changed his mind or something else.

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“I think along the line, either 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, he changed his mind. Whatever it is, I don’t care 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.

 

National Assembly didn’t reject me as minister, Tinubu did – El-Rufai