A former governor of Kaduna State, Nasir El-Rufai, on Monday said he was not rejected by the National Assembly as a ministerial nominee.
Speaking in an interview on Arise TV’s Prime Time, said President Bola Tinubu simply “changed his mind on the nomination”
El-Rufai, who debunked the claims that the National Assembly rejected him because of a security report from the Department of State Services (DSS) said, “Since I left office and the president begged me publicly to support him, I said I would and I don’t want anything. I am a self-made man I don’t need anything.
Through two months of negotiations we finally agreed that he would nominate me as minister and there were certain conditions I attached to that, along the line, either the president changed his mind. Please don’t believe the story that the National Assembly rejected me, they had nothing to do with it, the president didn’t want me in his cabinet.”
On the alleged security concerns cited for his rejection, El-Rufai challenged the claim, insisting there was no report against him.
“What was the security issue the National Assembly had against me? Where is the report? There were far less qualified, less experienced that scaled through because the president made a call. He is a human being he’s entitled to change his mind,” he said.
By Enioluwa Adeniyi
