Malam Nasir el-Rufai took umbrage at President Bola Tinubu to his face during a pugnacious meeting at the State House earlier this week, Peoples Gazette can report per multiple sources briefed on the matter.
The former Kaduna governor decried President Tinubu’s failure to be upfront about any reservations the president might have held against his ministerial appointment as indicative of a suppressed animosity, as the controversy over his nomination continued to drive ripples across.
Malam el-Rufai specifically said it appeared President Tinubu had “reservations about me because you can’t claim not to be aware of the petitions,” according to the account of one of our sources which was subsequently corroborated by another State House official with first-hand knowledge of what transpired at the meeting.
Before el-Rufai’s remarks, the President had said he was only waiting for a security report from the national security administrators before taking a final decision. But a seething el-Rufai quickly interjected and informed his host that he had already decided to stand down as a potential minister, our sources said.
el-Rufai’s brutal candour before the President startled people around the Presidential Villa, The Gazette heard, with many fearing the political fallout.
“We know of his high level of competence,” an Aso Rock aide said of Mr. el-Rufai, “and the president would rather have him as an ally rather than even a cursory enemy.”
At issue have been the machinations of national security adviser Nuhu Ribadu, who boosted the severity of a string of complaints against Malam el-Rufai’s viability for a seat on the federal executive council to oppose his security clearance, our sources said.
Malam el-Rufai was one of only three ministerial nominations that were withheld when the list of 48 nominees was considered last week. The two others, Abubakar Danladi of Taraba and Stella Okotete of Delta, have not made relentless headlines because they are not as controversial as el-Rufai. The senators, however, cleared 45 candidates, including Nyesom Wike and Abubakar Bagudu, both of whom are widely adjudged among the most violent, corrupt politicians the country has ever seen.
Mr. Ribadu and other aides were said to have fervently pushed the president to pay attention to the cornucopia of damaging petitions submitted against Mr El-Rufai from different parts of the country, which ranged from allegations of fomenting ethnic clashes in Kaduna to cornering public funds.
