Bayo Onanuga, an aide to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, has advised former Kaduna State Governor, Nasir El-Rufai, to move past his failed ministerial nomination, urging him to stop acting like a child.
Speaking on Sunrise Daily on Tuesday, Onanuga said El-Rufai still seemed hurt months after being dropped from President Bola Tinubu’s cabinet.
“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, initially nominated for a ministerial role, was dropped after the Senate declined to confirm his appointment over security concerns. Speaking in an Arise TV interview on Monday, he claimed it was Tinubu, not the National Assembly, who rejected his nomination.
“The President publicly appealed to me to put my plans on hold, and after two months of negotiations, we finally agreed that he would nominate me as a minister, with certain conditions I attached to that,” El-Rufai said. “I think along the line, either the President changed his mind or something else happened. 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.”
El-Rufai insisted he had remained silent on the issue but maintained his right to question the All Progressives Congress’ functionality.
He added, “Since I moved on, I have not said a word, granted an interview, or commented on the government, but it is within my right as a founding member of the All Progressives Congress to ask why the party isn’t functioning.”
