Bello El-Rufai, the lawmaker representing Kaduna North Federal Constituency in the House of Representatives, has revealed that his father initially did not want to be a minister and saw the Senate’s rejection of his nomination as a loss for Nigeria, missing out on having an effective administrator.
Bello made this revelation in an Interview with Seun Okinbaloye of Channels Television.
He explained that it took a lot of convincing from him and other family members to persuade Nasir El-Rufai to accept the ministerial nomination from President Tinubu.
This information came out after the Senate confirmed only 45 out of the 48 ministerial nominees presented by the President in August. El-Rufai, Stella Okotete from Delta, and Sani Danladi from Taraba were not confirmed.
Senate President Godswill Akpabio mentioned that the three nominees who were not confirmed would undergo additional security checks. He advised those who were not confirmed to discuss the issue with the President.
The recent decision to reject Nasir El-Rufai’s ministerial appointment has led to debates about the criteria for such appointments and the impact of Senate rejections on the government’s ability to form a capable team.
Bello El-Rufai expressed his disappointment over his father’s rejection, highlighting the setback it posed for both their family and the nation as a whole.
He stressed the valuable contributions Nasir El-Rufai could have offered to the country, drawing on his extensive experience and strong administrative skills.
He said, “I was in the National Assembly when my father’s nomination was rejected. It was very disappointing and still is. Myself, the Governor of Kaduna State, Uba Sani, and one of my father’s commissioners, Mr Hafiz Bayero, played a key role in convincing my father to work with this current government.
“He (Nasir) didn’t want it. It’s hard for Nigerians to believe it because they feel it is everyone in Nigeria who wants to be a minister.
“To be fair to him, he didn’t want the job. We convinced him that, with the antecedents of Asiwaju, he would create an excellent team as he did in Lagos.
“The President wanted to work with him. It was clear when he came to Kaduna. We also had an idea of what his portfolio would be. It was meant to be power and gas. He insisted to the President in private that Nigeria would not sort its electricity issue if gas was not put under the other components of power.
“The irony is that nothing has been rougher than the lack of power in the last two weeks. I’m disappointed because Nigeria lost an effective administrator in my father, one who is willing to make difficult decisions to solve a problem.”
Bello also mentioned that most Nigerians are not familiar with his father.
He said, “My father is a very simple person who’s been stereotyped a lot. I got a video of him where people say this or that about him without even knowing him.
“My father does not go out of his way to change what people think about him. He doesn’t really care.
“There’s a perception that he’s anti-Christian. But, the closest person to him since we (children) were four years old was a man from Cross River State, Peter Jones.
“Religion is personal to us. As minister of the Federal Capital Territory, he demolished mosques. The imam said he hated Islam. He demolished churches and the Christians said he hated Christians. Maybe, it is the wrong imams and pastors who have issues, not him.”
The Kaduna lawmaker went on to say that his father had many flaws.
