El-Rufai reiterates long circulating rumour, says “the government is commercialised, everything has a price tag”
By Jeph Ajobaju, Chief Copy Editor
***************************
“The APC has derailed, the party is no longer abiding by its founding principles. Everyone is working for himself, looking for money. The government is commercialised, everything has a price tag.
“Justice has been kept at bay, those who worked for the party were ignored instead of being compensated. If there is any position or appointment, they give it to a Lagos boy, etc.
“That is why we’ve been speaking. We spoke, we said this is not the party we know. The party is dead” – El-Rufai
***************************
Nasir El-Rufai has doubled down on spilling the beans on Bola Tinubu and the All Progressives Congress (APC) from which he just defected, now igniting a bombshell that he “knows those who paid” bribes to get ministerial jobs under the President because he was on the screening panel.
The former Kaduna Governor made that point on BBC Hausa on Thursday and also refuted the claim by his critics that he left the APC for the Social Democratic Party (PDP) earlier this week because Tinubu did not appoint him a Minister.
“But did I even look for the ministerial position? I know those who even paid money to be appointed as Ministers,” he said, rehashing the rumour in public domain for two years running that a man close to Tinubu allegedly collected millions of naira to facilitate the appointment of Ministers in 2023.
“Yes, I was at the screening because the President begged me. It was in the public glare, not the two of us for him to say he had never begged me. It was in Kaduna where he begged me to come and work with him.
“Even then, I did not agree until when we sat down and he told me what he wanted. That the problem of electricity had refused to allow the country to progress.
“He said he would like to be the President that would finally resolve the power problem and he begged me to come and help him achieve that.
“I told him that I would look at the challenge he gave me and would consider working with him. I thought he meant it.”
El-Rufai said he sought the permission of former President Muhammadu Buhari before he left the APC because he does not do any major thing without seeking the consent and advice of Buhari, his mentor.
“The APC has derailed, the party is no longer abiding by its founding principles. Everyone is working for himself, looking for money. The government is commercialised, everything has a price tag.
“Justice has been kept at bay, those who worked for the party were ignored instead of being compensated. If there is any position or appointment, they give it to a Lagos boy, etc.
“That is why we’ve been speaking. We spoke, we said this is not the party we know. The party is dead. I said the only option is for me to meet Pastor Tunde Bakare, because he dragged me into APC. He took me to Buhari.
“I did not join the APC because of Buhari, it was Pastor Bakare who dragged me to APC and courtesy demands I should let him know.
“Buhari too, I told him I was leaving the party, I sought his blessings and prayers. He said he has given me his blessings and prayers. We are the ones in politics, he (Buhari) is now father of the land and has been praying for us, so what remains?
“I’ve publicly denounced my membership of the party, they can go and hold on to the party, they can eat the party alone like food, we’ve given up.”
Did he leave the APC to avoid being expelled? he was asked.
“That would’ve been much easier for me, but look at it, as I kept on saying, I did not leave the party, it’s the party that dumped me. Why did it leave me? First of all, I was marginalised, not involved in all party activities. Not that I was invited and refused to honour the invite, I was completely sidelined.
“Secondly, what we had planned to implement when we form government, it’s not what’s being implemented.”
Read also:
