Special Adviser to President Bola Tinubu on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, has urged former Kaduna State Governor, Nasir El-Rufai, to move on from his ministerial disappointment, stating that he should stop behaving like a child.
Speaking on Channels Television’s Sunrise Daily on Tuesday, Onanuga noted that El-Rufai appeared to still be nursing grievances over his failed ministerial nomination, months after President Tinubu’s cabinet was constituted.
“As a person, I pity the former governor of Kaduna State, Mallam Nasir El-Rufai. He feels hurt that he was not made a minister. It has been a long time since the cabinet was formed in August 2023. I think it is time for him to move on. He cannot continue to behave like a child, as if someone stole his bread,” Onanuga said.
El-Rufai was initially among Tinubu’s ministerial nominees but was dropped after the Senate declined to confirm his appointment, citing security concerns. Since then, he has largely distanced himself from the administration until recently when he raised concerns about the internal operations of the All Progressives Congress (APC).
In an interview with Arise TV on Monday, the former Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) refuted claims that the National Assembly rejected his nomination, asserting that it was President Tinubu who withdrew his appointment.
El-Rufai revealed that despite Tinubu publicly requesting his continued service in government, the President later changed his mind.
“Since I left office and the President begged me publicly to come and serve in his government, I had my plans and told President Tinubu from day one that I didn’t want anything,” he said.
“I’m not in politics for personal gain. I have a surname, and I’m a self-made man. I made money before coming into public office. I don’t need anything. After eight years in Kaduna, I was nearly burnt out and wanted to take a break,” he added.
According to El-Rufai, after two months of negotiations, he agreed to be nominated as a minister under certain conditions, but along the line, Tinubu had a change of heart.
“Please don’t believe the story that the National Assembly rejected me. The National Assembly had nothing to do with this. The President didn’t want me in his cabinet. He changed his mind. Whatever the reason, I don’t care, and I’ve moved on,” he said.
El-Rufai further stressed that since moving on, he had refrained from making comments about the government but insisted that as a founding member of the APC, he had the right to question the party’s functionality.
