My father and Tinubu not best of friends, says Bello El-Rufai

…El-Rufai never wanted to be a Minister.
The House of Representatives member for Kaduna North Federal Constituency, Hon. Mohammed Bello El-Rufai, has revealed that his father, the former governor of Kaduna State, Mallam Nasir El-Rufai and President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, belonged to different political camps and as such were not the best of friends.

Hon. Bello El-Rufai also revealed that the former governor was not interested in becoming a minister under the current administration.

The lawmaker stated this during an interview on Mic On, an online podcast with Seun Okinbaloye. The younger El-Rufai revealed that many may find it hard to believe that the former governor’s support for a Southern president was not driven by personal gains, given the significant role of his father in insisting power move to the South after former President Muhammadu Buhari’s tenure. 

According to him, he (Bello) and others mounted pressure on the former Kaduna governor to accept a ministerial position from President Tinubu.

He said, “It’s hard for Nigerians to believe it because they think everybody wants to be a minister. I, my mentor, the Governor of Kaduna, Uba Sani and my friend, who was my father’s commissioner, Hafiz Bayero, played a key role in convincing my father to agree to work with this current government; he didn’t want it.

“So, to be fair to him, he didn’t want the job; we convinced him that from the antecedents of President Asiwaju, he would create an excellent team as he did in Lagos. The President wanted to work with him, and when he came to Kaduna, it was clear that he wanted. In-house, it was difficult to convince him to agree to be a minister,” Bello revealed.

Ministerial rejection disappointing

Hon. Bello El-Rufai said the rejection of Mallam El-Rufai’s ministerial nomination was very disappointing because of the role he and others played in convincing him to take up the appointment, adding that by the rejection of his nomination, Nigeria lost an opportunity to benefit from Mallam El-Rufai’s decision-making abilities.

“I take it hard because I know the role I played not, as a son. I remember telling him that this time around, I am not speaking as your son; I’m speaking as a representative of your local government, that you should consider it as a duty, as public service, and if you can help, help. 

“It was very disappointing. It still is because we had an idea of what his portfolio would be, it was meant to be Power and Gas. You can say what you want about Nasir El-Rufai, but if you give him an assignment, he will do it well. So, I’m disappointed because Nigeria lost an effective administrator. A person willing to make difficult decisions to solve a problem that, unless we solve, we are not going anywhere. 

“The irony is, there is nothing as rough as lack of power in the last two weeks. Russia electrified their country in 1921. How can a business in Nigeria, how can a small business compete with a similar competitor in Accra when 50% of their operating costs are going to diesel? So whether we like it or not, we have to solve this power issue. 

“Unfortunately, I don’t think we’re doing it now. It’s too early to call out the Minister, Adelabu, and it’s more than the minister; you have the DISCOS of how they were sold off, but that’s another topic,” he said.

It was politics at play…Asiwaju and El-Rufai aren’t the best of pals.

Hon. Bello also clarified that the allegation that his father’s rejection was due to security concerns was not true, adding that political intrigues were at play.

He admitted that though his father and President Tinubu are not in the same political camps, there is no love lost between the two politicians.

“You and I know even before this, Asiwaju and Mallam were never the best pals. Not that they were fighting because Asiwaju is way his senior politically, but you know there have been many remarks that Mallam has said retired Godfathers in Lagos, you remember that. 

“So, in the President’s camp, Mallam was very close to Governor Aregbesola. So I don’t think within the camp of the president, you have many people rolling their pom pons for Mallam because they believed he played a key role along with other governors in ensuring power moved to the South. But it’s not like they’ve always been jolly; there has been mutual respect.