El-Rufai: Tinubu knew I didn’t want post

Former Kaduna State governor, Nasir El-Rufai, has revealed why he is not part of President Bola Tinubu’s cabinet.

The All Progressives Congress (APC) chieftain stated that he was never interested in any ministerial position and he had already informed Tinubu about it.

It will be recalled that the Senate, in August 2023, declined to confirm El-Rufai as a ministerial nominee over a negative security report from the State Security Service (SSS).

While other nominees were approved, El-Rufai, alongside two others, was asked to resolve security concerns before confirmation.

In a tweet on Thursday morning, El-Rufai dismissed claims that he sought a position in Tinubu’s government, insisting that he had informed the president beforehand that he was not interested.

He said this while responding to presidential aide, Daniel Bwala who asked if his take on the APC would have been different if he were a member of Tinubu’s cabinet.

El-Rufai had criticized the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) for “straying away from its core values”, adding that he does not recognise his political party any longer.

He also criticized those making an issue out of his absence from the administration, calling them “latter-day converts” who lack moral integrity.

He tweeted:

“Good morning, Bwala Daniel. I was cabinet minister 22 years ago, and was clear to Asiwaju that I was not interested in any position in his future government. The pathetic manner all of you latter-day converts to the Tinubu government make an issue of something that I never wanted in the first place is perhaps a reflection of the level of your moral flexibility.

“If I had remained in the Tinubu government, I will say or do the same on the tragedy within a party I was a founder, and the government that emerged from it – first in private sessions with those concerned, and then go public if no remedial actions are taken. Go and check my public service record from 1998.

“I am only responding to you because I still think you are a decent person who may need a job, and not in the class of Wendell Simlin and that Kaduna pretender that our voters retired in 2019 – these clowns are political mercenaries that receive humongous monthly stipends from the security vote to be the first to jump on X and other platforms to defend everything the Asiwaju government does or fails to do, no matter how indefensible it may be.

“Enjoy your special adviser position, my brother, but remember that allegiance to God and country comes first in human scale of accountability, before any person or authority. – elrufai”.