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Former Kaduna State governor, Nasir El-Rufai, said, on Thursday, he never wanted an appointment in the government of President Bola Tinubu.
He said he made this clear enough long before Tinubu won the presidential election in 2023.
He, therefore, expressed his frustration at “the pathetic manner in all of you latter-day converts to the Tinubu government make an issue of something that I never wanted in the first place.”
The PUNCH reports that while forming his cabinet, Tinubu nominated El-Rufai for a ministerial appointment. The ex-Kaduna governor was, however, rejected by the National Assembly based on what sources linked to “security concerns.”
El-Rufai expressed his frustration in an X post on Thursday while responding to Tinubu’s Special Adviser on Policy Communication, Daniel Bwala, who had earlier challenged him for criticising the Tinubu’s government and the ruling All Progressives Congress.
Speaking on Monday in Abuja at a democracy conference, El-Rufai criticised the APC and the quality of leadership emerging from political parties.
He described the state of governance and opposition in Nigeria as a “national emergency” and urged opposition parties to unite and form a broad coalition to challenge the ruling party.
But taking him on, Bwala wrote on X: “My senior brother, if you were in the government and cabinet, would you have held and expressed the same position? History is replete with examples. It is a government you participated in its formation that you now want to unseat. Haba Mallam, a ji soron Allah mana.”
In a reply on Thursday, El-Rufai insisted that he had made it clear to Tinubu that he was not interested in any position in his administration.
He said, “Good morning, #BwalaDaniel, 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.”
El-Rufai also insisted that he would have criticised Tinubu’s government if he were a member of the cabinet, while taking a swipe at the presidential aide.
El-Rufai said, “If I had remained in the Tinubu government, I would 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 the human scale of accountability, before any person or authority.”
The PUNCH reports that Tinubu, as presidential candidate of the APC, once urged El-Rufai to join his government.
In October 2022 during the Kaduna Economic and Investment Summit, Tinubu, then the APC presidential candidate, publicly asked El-Rufai to commit to participating in his future government.
In response, El-Rufai pledged to postpone his retirement plans. While Tinubu nominated him for ministerial appointment, the National Assembly declined to confirm him.
Further responding to El-Rufai on Thursday, Bwala expressed concern that the ex-governor’s statements and actions were not driven by patriotism but by a desire for vengeance.
“The opposition sees that singular element of vengeance as a veritable tool for your recruitment,” Bwala said.
He also rejected El-Rufai’s claim that he was a “latter-day Tinubu supporter,” clarifying that both of them had contributed to Tinubu’s emergence as the APC candidate ahead of the 2023 elections.
“Before then, while you were from the CPC faction of the APC, I was from the ACN, which explains why I worked with Comrade [Adams] Oshiomhole when he chaired the party, among other efforts, to protect Asiwaju’s interests — at a time when you and others vowed to retire him from politics.”
Bwala urged El-Rufai to put aside his grievances and re-engage constructively within the APC.
“I still think you don’t need all these melodramatic activities or a vengeance mission. Come back and resolve whatever you think are your grievances like the dignified man that you are,” he said.
He also argued that the APC remained the only truly organised party with a nationwide structure.
“So if you are looking for any symbol of democracy, it is still in your party. Please, senior, come home; you have toiled all night,” Bwala said.
