Governor Abdullahi Sule of Nasarawa state on Wednesday, January 8, said the Progressives Governors’ Forum (PGF) cannot intervene in the ministerial ordeal of former Kaduna state governor Nasir El-Rufai.
Gov Sule speaks on El-Rufai’s ministerial rejection, defection to PDP
Sule, who is a member of the PGF, the governors’ forum of the All Progressives Congress (APC), revealed this on Channels Television’s Politics Today programme on Wednesday.
According to Governor Sule, El-Rufai has not left the ruling party despite his rejection as a ministerial nominee by the National Assembly in August 2023.
“El-Rufai has not left our party; he is still in our party,” Sule said.
Legit.ng reported that El-Rufai was one of the northern powerbrokers who insisted that the APC presidential ticket for the 2023 general elections be given to a southern candidate in line with the unwritten principle of rotation of power between the southern and the northern regions in Nigeria. This was after the eight-year tenure of President Muhammadu Buhari, from the North-West geopolitical zone.
El-Rufai, who was Kaduna governor between May 2015 and May 2023, was vocal in his choice of ex-Lagos governor Bola Tinubu as the flag bearer of the party in the last general elections.
However, on Wednesday, Governor Sule said:
”El-Rufai has not left our party(APC) he is still part of our party. It is still very early, I have seen a lot of people come up with all kinds of comments and threats, but I think it is very early.”
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”Since he left office, I have not spoken to El-Rufai, I don’t know what he is doing, I do not know where he is, I don’t know anything about his movement.”
El-Rufai silent after visiting ex-Chief of Staff
Meanwhile, reported that El-Rufai visited the Kaduna State Correctional Facility on January 2 to see his former Chief of Staff, Bashir Saidu.
Saidu, who served as El-Rufai’s Chief of Staff, was arrested on January 1 and is facing financial crime allegations