Premium Times quoted Presidency sources as saying El-Rufai told President Tinubu that he would have to refuse the president’s ministerial call.
By Jeffrey Agbo
Ex-governor of Kaduna State, Nasir el-Rufai, has travelled out of Nigeria following the controversy surrounding his nomination to be part of President Bola Tinubu’s cabinet as a minister.
As of Saturday, the former governor, Daily Trust gathered, had flown to Europe but would be in Egypt first.
Last week, the Senate approved the appointment of 45 out of the 48 ministerial nominees submitted by President Tinubu.
El-Rufai, and two other ministerial nominees – Stella Okotete (Delta) and Danladi Abubakar (Taraba) – were not confirmed. The Senate said they were awaiting security clearance about them.
It was learnt that the Senate and Department of State Services (DSS) received the most petitions against El-Rufai than any other ministerial nominee.
Following the impasse, El-Rufai met with Tinubu at the Presidential Villa in Abuja, on Tuesday, but the outcome of the meeting was not made public.
But Premium Times quoted Presidency sources as saying El-Rufai told President Tinubu that he would have to refuse the president’s ministerial call, but would continue to contribute his quota to the development of Nigeria as a private citizen.
“He also told the president that he needed time to focus on his doctorate programme at a university in The Netherlands,” the source was quoted as saying.
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Another source said the former governor suggested a new ministerial nominee — Jafaru Ibrahim Sani — for Kaduna.
El-Rufai also reportedly told the President that since he would no longer be in the federal executive council, he would return the next day with his team to present the preliminary work done so far on the energy sector.
The online platform said the team that accompanied the former governor to make presentations to the president on Wednesday includes 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 Ayodele Oni, a lawyer.
Daily Trust said El-Rufai’s spokesman, Muyiwa Adekeye, could not be reached for comments.