A report by Peoples Gazette has revealed that Nasir El-Rufai is expected to withdraw from President Bola Tinubu’s federal executive council, even if his security clearance is ultimately approved for ministerial confirmation.
The former Kaduna governor was said to have been furious by the hold on his endorsement that appeared to cast a pall on his security status as a prominent Nigerian politician.
According to the report, El-Rufai has yet to publicly announce his intention to abandon his ministerial nomination because he believed the Senate would eventually receive a green light from the national security establishment and subsequently confirm him.
Sources said that he has decided to wait until his confirmation before announcing his desire not to serve in the cabinet, eliminating any emergency developments that could force his hands otherwise.
He could be the first to resign ministerial appointment between Senate confirmation and inauguration.
The reason Mr El-Rufai decided to follow this approach was to show the Nigerian public that there were no justifiable grounds for the outcome of his security assessment to be placed on hold, presumably by National Security Adviser Nuhu Ribadu, much less being heinous enough to preclude him from serving as a minister.
Mr El-Rufai was among three politicians whose confirmations were withheld by the Senate on Monday.
They were among 48 total ministerial nominations forwarded to the upper parliamentary chamber by Tinubu, with lawmakers clearing 45 names who are now being assigned portfolios.
Whereas the grounds for withholding confirmation for the two other nominees, Abubakar Danladi of Taraba and Stella Okotete of Delta, were publicly documented, El-Rufai’s fate has been stranded in the realm of high-octane speculations that have proven rather stubborn for his supporters to quell.
