Bello El-Rufai, the lawmaker representing Kaduna North Federal Constituency in the House of Representatives, has revealed that his father, former Governor Nasir El-Rufai of Kaduna State, never desired a ministerial position.
In an interview with Seun Okinbaloye on Saturday, Bello disclosed that Nigeria lost an effective administrator when the Senate rejected his father’s appointment as a minister.
He explained that it took his pleas and those of other family members to convince Nasir El-Rufai to accept the ministerial nomination from President Bola Tinubu.
Recalling the events, Bello expressed disappointment when the Senate rejected his father’s nomination, emphasizing that Nasir El-Rufai was initially reluctant to take up the ministerial role.
“I was in the National Assembly when my father’s nomination was rejected. It was very disappointing and still is. Myself, the Governor of Kaduna State, Uba Sani, and one of my father’s commissioners, Mr Hafiz Bayero, played a key role in convincing my father to work with this current government,“ he said.
“He (Nasir) didn’t want it. It’s hard for Nigerians to believe it because they feel it is everyone in Nigeria who wants to be a minister.
“To be fair to him, he didn’t want the job. We convinced him that, with the antecedents of Asiwaju, he would create an excellent team as he did in Lagos.
“The President wanted to work with him. It was clear when he came to Kaduna. We also had an idea of what his portfolio would be. It was meant to be power and gas. He insisted to the President in private that Nigeria would not sort its electricity issue if gas was not put under the other components of power.
“The irony is that nothing has been rougher than the lack of power in the last two weeks. I’m disappointed because Nigeria lost an effective administrator in my father, one who is willing to make difficult decisions to solve a problem.”
