‘Stop Crying Over Spilt Milk, You’re Hurt Tinubu Did Not Make You A Minister’ – Presidency Replies El-Rufai

The presidency has urged the former Governor of Kaduna State, Nasir El-Rufai, to move on following his exclusion from President Bola Tinubu’s administration.

Naija News reported that El-Rufai, on Monday, said the National Assembly did not reject him as a ministerial nominee.

El-Rufai, while speaking in an interview on Arise TV’s Prime Time, said President Bola Tinubu simply “changed his mind on the nomination.”

The former Governor, who debunked the claims that the National Assembly rejected him because of a security report from the Department of State Services (DSS) said, “Since I left office and the president begged me publicly to support him, I said I would and I don’t want anything. I am a self-made man I don’t need anything. Through two months of negotiations we finally agreed that he would nominate me as minister and there were certain conditions I attached to that, along the line, either the president changed his mind. Please don’t believe the story that the National Assembly rejected me, they had nothing to do with it, the president didn’t want me in his cabinet.”

In response, the Special Adviser to the President on Information & Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, in an interview with Channels TV on Tuesday, said El-Rufai feels hurt about not being appointed a minister despite his contribution to Tinubu’s electioneering process.

Onanuga said El-Rufai is displaying resentment of someone being left out of a moving train, which is why he is campaigning against Tinubu.

He said, “As a person, I think I will pity the former governor of Kaduna State, Nasir El-Rufai. He feels hurt that he was not made a minister. It has been a long time since the ministers were appointed, and I think it is time for him to move on. You cannot continue being like a child as if someone stole your bread, and you are crying over a spilt milk.

“It is natural for him to feel hurt that he has been excluded from Tinubu’s government and the President, in his birthday tribute to El-Rufai, acknowledged his contribution to the party, he actually helped a lot in installing the president Bola Tinubu. The exclusion is the reason he is going about campaigning against the president.

“He is showing the resentment of a man being left out of a moving train. I will advise him to forget everything that happened or not be made a minster, he has been in public service since 1999. His dissatisfaction about Tinubu’s government is his personal opinion and it does not reflect reality.”