FOLLOWING THE EMBATTLED EX-governor of Kaduna State, Nasir El-Rufai outburst on the rejection of his nomination appointment. The former governor decried that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu never wants him among his cabinet members.
Recall that the Senate had withheld the confirmation, citing security reasons as a concern from the State Security Service for further action.
In an interview with Arise TV monitored by our correspondent on Monday, El-Rufai said that he was never rejected by the National Assembly as a ministerial member.
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 to put my plans on hold and after some time we finally agreed that he would nominate me as a 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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“Please, don’t believe the story that the National Assembly rejected me. The President didn’t want me in his cabinet, he changed his mind. Whatever it is, frankly, I don’t care,” he said.
The Explainer earlier reported that El-Rufai missed out on Tinubu’s ministerial appointment.
Why El-Rufai’s nomination was rejected?
Omokri wrote: “On Monday, 24, 2025, Malam Nasir el-Rufai appeared on Arise Television and accused President Tinubu and the National Security Adviser of being behind his failed ministerial nomination.
“Mr. el-Rufai said, among other things, that “the President did not want me in his cabinet.”
“Nothing could be further from the truth. The fact is that President Bola Tinubu nominated Malam Nasir el-Rufai as a minister and, as is constitutionally required, sent his name to the National Assembly for Senate confirmation.
“During the Senate confirmation process, the National Assembly requested security clearance from both national and international security and intelligence agencies, and it was discovered that Nasir el-Rufai failed his security screening woefully.
“He was considered a diplomatic liability to Nigeria because, on Thursday, February 7, 2019, Malam Nasir el-Rufai threatened European Union observers with death if they intervened in Nigeria’s impending Presidential elections, which were to take place on Saturday, February 16, 2019.
“On that day, Mr. el-Rufai said: “We are waiting for the person who will come and intervene. They will go back in body bags because nobody will come to Nigeria and tell us how to run our country.”
“So strongly did the European Union view this threat that they wrote officially to the Government of Nigeria to protest and issued a public statement censuring Nigeria.
“Malam Nasir el-Rufai was also fingered as a major contributor to the genocide of Southern Kaduna Christians after he admitted on multiple occasions to paying killer herdsmen while he was Governor.
“Thirdly, Nasir el-Rufai’s government was indicted in the Zaria Shiite Massacre of Saturday, December 12, 2015, where 438 Shiite men, women, children and infants were slaughtered in one of Africa’s worst human rights violations.
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“Additionally, Mr. el-Rufai’s government was specifically cited for demolishing the homes of his political opponents in Kaduna.
“For these and other reasons, Malam Nasir el-Rufai failed his security clearance and could not be cleared by the Senate of the National Assembly. He has himself to blame for this, not the President or the NSA.
“Nigerians may recall that el-Rufai was not the only ministerial nominee who was refused clearance. Nasir el-Rufai and two others, including Danladi Sani, the Taraba state nominee, and Stella Okotete of Delta state, were rejected because security agencies refused to clear them.
“None of the others has blamed the duo of the President or his NSA. None. Except el-Rufai.
“Thereafter, el-Rufai withdrew his nomination and named his former Commissioner for Local Government, Jafaru Sani, as his replacement.
“Nasir el-Rufai is bitter that his desire to be a minister was scuttled, and in his bitterness, he is attacking those who are bringing betterment to Nigeria.”
