The former Governor of Kaduna State, Nasir El-Rufai, may reject the ministerial appointment from President Bola Tinubu.
Recall that President Tinubu had sent the names of El-Rufai and 47 others to the National Assembly for screening and confirmation as ministers.
However, the former Kaduna State governor and Stella Okotete from Delta State were not cleared by the Senate due to allegations levelled against them, while Umar Danladi from Taraba State was not cleared because of a Supreme Court ruling barring him from holding public office for 10 years.
It was gathered that El-Rufai and the other two nominees would have to get security clearance before they are called back to the Senate for confirmation.
However, a source said that El-Rufai may likely turn down the ministerial appointment even if his security clearance ultimately goes through for Senate confirmation.
The source said that El-Rufai was angry by the hold on his senatorial screening and confirmation that appeared to cast a shadow on his security status as a prominent Nigerian politician.
The source who craved anonymity, said the former Kaduna State governor believed that the Senate would eventually receive a green light from the office of the National Security Adviser and subsequently confirm him.
The source disclosed that El-Rufai has decided to wait until his confirmation before announcing his desire not to serve in the Tinubu cabinet.
“There is nothing new about being a minister to him anymore since he has done it before, so he would turn down the position after security clearance,” the source said.
According to the source, the reason El-Rufai may turn down the appointment was to show Nigerians that there were no justifiable grounds for the outcome of his security assessment to be placed on hold.
The source said the decision of the former governor came despite the relentless efforts of his closest friends to initiate a meeting with the NSA, Nuhu Ribadu, to resolve any outstanding issues.
He stated that El-Rufai insisted that he won’t be meeting Ribadu because he strongly believed the NSA lacked the requisite political stature to unilaterally withhold a ministerial nomination.
He said, “His Excellency Nasir El-Rufai is a man of conviction, and he has made it clear that he won’t be meeting Nuhu Ribadu to lobby him for security clearance.
“In fact, he was supposed to be in Abuja on Wednesday for a meeting with the NSA but he vigorously turned it down.”
Another source said, “Whatever Nuhu Ribadu might be doing, he won’t be able to do it without the president’s prior knowledge.
“So that is why he would wait until he finally gets confirmed before pulling out of the cabinet.”
President Tinubu held a meeting on Wednesday with El-Rufai and former governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers State.
The ex-governors arrived at the State House separately.
Wike entered the presidential wing of Aso Rock at about 1:40 p.m. while El-Rufai came in at about 2 p.m.
The two are ministerial nominees and have both been screened by the Senate.
While Wike has been confirmed, El-Rufai is yet to get the nod of the Senate as his confirmation was put on hold over an alleged security report.
