El-Rufai withdraws interest in ministerial appointment, travels out of the country

Mallam Nasir El-Rufai, a former governor of Kaduna State, has decided not to serve in President Bola Tinubu's government as a minister. El-Rufai reportedly informed President Tinubu during a meeting on Tuesday that he was no longer interested in becoming a minister but would still make his contribution as a private citizen to the development of Nigeria, according to an exclusive story by the online publication PREMIUM TIMES.

The former governor "told the president that he needed time to focus on his doctorate programme at a university in The Netherlands," according to Premium Times, which also cited sources in the presidency.

According to further sources, El-Rufai, who had already left the country, was furious because President Tinubu should have made it feasible for him to obtain the Senate's approval if he had truly wanted to include him in his cabinet.

Another insider also told the medium that El-Rufai suggested a new ministerial nominee —Jafaru Ibrahim Sani — for Kaduna State, saying the President would find him very useful and resourceful.

Mr Sani served as commissioner in three ministries in Kaduna State (Local Government Education and Environment) while Mr ElRufai was governor.

El-Rufai visited the President at the presidential villa a day after the Senate confirmed 45 ministerial nominees after a week-long screening of 48 of them.

The upper legislative chamber, however, withheld his confirmation and those of two others, citing security reports from the Department of State Service, DSS for the action.

The two others were a former senator from Taraba, Sani Danladi, and a nominee from Delta State, Stella
Okotete.

On becoming aware of the Senate pronouncement on his case, El-Rufai, who only returned to Nigeria from
London on Monday, sought and got an appointment to meet the president. At the meeting on Tuesday afternoon, President Tinubu, according to Premium Times sources, told the former governor he received some petitions critical of his ministerial nomination.

The president then asked for 24 hours grace to review the petitions and the DSS report to the Senate to
enable him reach a decision. It was at that point that El-Rufai responded that he was no longer interested
in being minister since it appeared some forces around the president were scheming intensely to block
his emergence as federal minister.

El-Rufai revealed at his confirmation hearing on August 1 that President Tinubu had requested him to collaborate with him on the nation's electricity crisis. He said that the President has set a deadline of seven years for Nigeria to be free of power interruptions.

El-Rufai allegedly informed the President at the meeting on Tuesday that he would return the following day with his team to submit the preliminary work completed so far on the energy sector because he would no longer be a member of the federal executive council.

Eyo Ekpo, a former commissioner at the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC), Hafiz Bayero, a former commissioner and administrator of the Kaduna Capital Territory Authority, Tolu Oyekan of the Boston Consulting Group, and attorney Ayodele Oni were on the team that accompanied the former governor to make presentations to the president on Wednesday.

El-Rufai is a doctoral student in public policy at the Maastricht campus of the United Nations.

His acquaintances claimed that when he got ready to step down as governor in May of this year, he expressed a desire to leave public life and focus on his PhD program. But that was before President-elect Tinubu asked him to join his government and tasked him with repositioning the ineffective power sector in the biggest economy in Africa.