Nasir El-Rufai, the former governor of Kaduna State, is said to have withdrawn his interest in President Bola Tinubu‘s cabinet appointment.
According to report, El-Rufai expressed his disinterest in serving in President Tinubu’s government following a meeting at the Presidential Villa on Tuesday.
Visitodell recalls that El-Rufai paid a visit to the President the day after the Senate confirmed 45 cabinet nominees following a week-long screening and confirmation process.
The higher legislative house, however, postponed his and two other confirmations, citing security reports from the State Security Service as the reason.
Sani Danladi, a former Taraba senator, and Stella Okotete, a Delta State nominee, were the other two candidates.
According to a presidency source who talked with PREMIUM TIMES, El-Rufai is no longer interested in becoming a minister due to his current doctoral program, but will continue to contribute to Nigeria’s growth as a private person.
The sources said, “He also told the president that he needed time to focus on his doctorate programme at a university in The Netherlands.”
The former governor is pursuing a doctorate in public policy at Maastricht’s United Nations University.
Another source told the publication that El-Rufai offered a new ministerial nominee for Kaduna State, Jafaru Ibrahim Sani, saying the President would find him useful and resourceful.
During the meeting, President Tinubu reportedly informed the former governor that he had received petitions opposing his ministerial candidacy.
The President, on the other hand, demanded 24 hours to consider the petitions and the SSS report before making a decision.
At that time, El-Rufai stated that he was no longer interested in becoming a minister because it looked that some forces close to the President were working hard to prevent his appointment as a federal minister.
Recall that during his confirmation hearing on August 1st, El-Rufai stated that Tinubu requested him to collaborate with him on the country’s electricity problem.
According to him, the President set a seven-year deadline for Nigeria to stop experiencing power shortages.
El-Rufai allegedly told the President during the Tuesday meeting that because he would no longer be a member of the federal executive council, he would return with his team to deliver the preliminary work done so far on the energy sector.
