Former Kaduna State Governor, Nasir El-Rufai has been urged by Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, to put his grudges aside and quit complaining about his failure to make the ministerial list of confirmed ministers of the President Bola Tinubu Administration.
El-Rufai had claimed in an interview with AriseTV that President Tinubu himself rejected his nomination, contrary to the narrative that the Senate was responsible.
Onanuga, who urged El-Rufai to move on from the past, claimed in an interview on Tuesday – today, February 25 – that the reason for the former Governor’s ongoing criticism of the government is his omission from the ministerial list.
“As a person, I think I will pity the former governor of Kaduna State, Mallam Nasir El-Rufai. He feels hurt that he was not made a minister, but I think it’s a long time; the ministers came in August 2023. I think it’s time for him to move on,” Onanuga said.
Onanuga said that while it is fair for El-Rufai to be dissatisfied, it is also wrong of him to go on a public campaign against the President.
“It’s natural for him to feel hurt, it’s natural for him to feel bad that he’s been excluded. And as the President acknowledged in a recent birthday tribute to him, Nasiru actually helped a lot in installing President Tinubu. But if he’s not there, it doesn’t mean that he must bring down the roof,” he added.
Addressing concerns about the relationship between the President and El-Rufai, Onanuga insisted that Tinubu holds no personal grudges against the former Governor.
“The President has nothing personally against Nasir, and so if Nasir feels naturally hurt that he has been excluded, and that’s why he’s going about everywhere campaigning against the President, it shows a man who resents being left out of the moving train and who will not let go,” Onanuga chided, stressing that El-Rufai had been in public service since 1999 and should embrace a new phase of his life.
“My advice for him as a brother is that, as a former Governor, he should forget it if he’s not made a minister.”
While El-Rufai has also criticized the administration’s policies and governance approach, Onanuga dismissed his views as a personal opinion that does not align with reality.
“This government inherited a lot of problems, and if you look at the figures and other things that we are witnessing, things are getting better. We are certainly not where we were in 2023,” he asserted.
He pointed to improvements in economic indicators as proof of the administration’s progress.
“This administration has done a lot to re-engineer the economy, and we are seeing positive figures. We’re seeing inflation coming down, our foreign reserves growing, and so many positive things happening,” Onanuga concluded.
