Why El-Rufai, others were not confirmed Ministers by Senate
Story from Ademola ADEBAYO
After seven days of screening of the forty-nine ministerial nominees sent to the senate by President Bola Tinubu, the Nigeria Senate stepped down the confirmation of immediate past Governor of Kaduna State and the ministerial nominee from Kaduna State, Malam Nasir El-Rufai as a minister of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
Also not confirmed by the Upper Chamber are the ministerial nominees from Delta State, Stella Okotete, as well as Senator Abubakar Danladi from Taraba state.
According to the President of the Senate, Senator Godswill Akpabio, the Senate did not confirm these individuals because of security reports and checks that must be cleared.
The three affected nominees were indicted in letters sent to the senate by the Department of State Security (DSS) and the National Security Adviser (NSA).
El-Rufai, who was Kaduna governor from May 2015 to May 2023, made the 28-man ministerial list of President Tinubu.
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Like other nominees being screened, El-Rufai was in the red chamber for confirmation on Tuesday, the 1st of August, 2023, and upon entering the hallowed chambers, he shared his resume with the lawmakers.
Trouble started to brew for the former FCT minister when Senator Karimi Sunday (Kogi West) raised a “very strong petition” against El-Rufai that bothered on insecurity, unity, and national cohesion.
Sunday, who praised El-Rufai’s performance as Kaduna governor and FCT minister said, “But I have a very strong petition against you that bothers on security, unity and cohesiveness of the Nigerian nation and I think that petition has to be considered along this screening exercise”.
While the Kaduna ex-governor moved to respond to Sunday’s comment on the petition against him, Senate President Godswill Akpabio stopped him saying it was not a forum for dealing with petitions.
Further checks revealed that the letter from the NSA and DG DSS cited security reasons, saying the Senate should defer the confirmation of the trio for now, for national security, and according to sources, “The senate president is holding the document sent to him tight and has not released it to anyone.”
Whatever might be the content of the letter from the security agencies to the Senate President, it is clear that Malam Nasir El-Rufai most importantly might have a rough ride to President Tinubu’s cabinet if eventually confirmed.
READ ALSO: Full list of Tinubu’s nominees confirmed as ministers by Senate
Prior to this time, a number of groups and individuals had asked the senate to reject El-Rufai’s nomination citing high handedness.
Recently,at a press conference in Bauchi, the Director of Education for the Sheikh Dahiru Usman Bauchi Foundation, Sheikh Sidi Ali, appealed to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to yank off El-Rufai’s name on the list.
According to the Islamic leader, appointing El-Rufai as a minister is repugnant to natural justice, equity, and good conscience insisting that El-Rufai’s name should be removed in the interest of justice, peace, harmony and development of the country.
The cleric said, “We have seen the name of the former Kaduna State Governor Malam Nasir ElrufaI, a man that openly showed his hatred for Qur’anic students when he went to the House of Maulana Sheikh Dahiru Bauchi and evacuated hundreds of students with teargas late in the night in his effort to stop learning and memorization of the Holy Quran.
“Such kind of a person that has no respect for fundamental human right of a human beings, has no respect for their rights under the constitution of Nigeria that include freedom to live wherever you want, freedom of religion should not be considered for any appointment talk less of ministerial appointment.”
Ademola Adebayo is the Managing Editor of Neptune Prime.
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