Nasarawa State Governor, Abdullahi Sule, stated that the Progressives Governors’ Forum (PGF) is unable to intervene in the ministerial predicament of former Kaduna State Governor, Nasir El-Rufai.
Sule, a member of the PGF and the governors’ forum of the All Progressives Congress (APC), also emphasized that El-Rufai has remained with the ruling party, despite being rejected as a ministerial nominee by the National Assembly in August 2023.
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“El-Rufai has not left our party; he is still part of our party,” Sule said on Channels Television’s Politics Today programme on Wednesday.
“What led to his (El-Rufai’s) nomination, what led to his rejection by the Senate or by the security agencies, to be honest with you, are not issues we discussed either at the Progressives Governors’ Forum or even the Nigeria Governors’ Forum. They are not issues because what doesn’t concern us, we can do nothing about it.
“It is the prerogative of Mr President to nominate whoever should be his minister and he nominated. Also, there are agencies including the National Assembly that either confirm or reject and they rejected (him),” said the Nasarawa governor.
El-Rufai was a key northern powerbroker who advocated for the APC presidential ticket for the 2023 general elections to be given to a southern candidate. This stance was in line with the unwritten power rotation principle between Nigeria’s northern and southern regions, following the completion of President Muhammadu Buhari’s eight-year tenure from the North-West.
Serving as Kaduna’s governor from May 2015 to May 2023, El-Rufai was an outspoken supporter of Bola Tinubu, the former Lagos governor, as the APC’s presidential candidate. Alongside other northern political figures, El-Rufai backed Tinubu against two other prominent northern aspirants—then Senate President Ahmad Lawan and former Jigawa governor, Mohammed Badaru.
Tinubu ultimately secured the APC ticket and won the presidency in the February 2023 elections. In a typical case of political reward, Tinubu nominated El-Rufai for a ministerial position three months after his inauguration.
However, El-Rufai’s ministerial nomination was rejected by the Senate during the screening process, citing security concerns from the Department of State Services.
Since his rejection in August 2023, El-Rufai has distanced himself from APC gatherings and has been notably absent from the Aso Villa or any interactions with President Tinubu, whom he actively campaigned for.
Meanwhile, rumors of his potential defection have gained traction, especially after he was spotted with leaders of the Social Democratic Party (SDP), though he has denied any such plans. His relationship with his successor, Governor Sani Uba of Kaduna, has
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