An All Progressives Congress (APC) group operating under the aegis of Kaduna Progressives Forum (KPF) has alerted President Bola Tinubu on reasons why El-Rufai shouldn’t be given any political appointment.
The group which claimed to have been in existence since 2014, with unalloyed activities and loyalty to the party despite some leadership failures in the past eight years of Malam Nasir Ahmad El-Rufai as governor.
A statement that was jointly
Signed by the National Coordinator Alhaji Abdullahi Garba and the General secretary Mohammed Baba Zaria indicated with the future of Kaduna State and APC in mind, they were compelled to draw the attention, the President and Commander-in-Chief of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Bola Ahmed Tinubu to some salient issues which he must take into consideration in assembling his cabinet.
According to the statement, the Presidential election which held on February 25, 2023, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar of the opposition Peoples Democratic Party, (PDP) won in Kaduna State adding the reason could be traced to El-Rufai’s anti-peoples’ policies in the State, particularly in his second tenure.
“He crudely demolished houses, markets without compensation and retrenched teachers and civil servants against advice of elder statesmen in the party, particularly as he was not seeking elective office after his second tenure.
“The development put the party at variance with the wishes of Kaduna people, hence, their rejection of APC at the polls.
“El-Rufai is currently being prosecuted by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission over N32 billion sales of Federal Government Houses when he was Minister of the Federal Capital Territory in the former President Olusegun Obasanjo government.
“The Civil Society Organisations and Transparency and Accountability groups have been urging the Federal Government to expedite prosecution of the former governor, given that he could not account for the money, apart from Court injunctions retraining the EFCC from investigating and prosecuting him.
The statement recalled that in 2019, Malam El-Rufai threatened foreigners that if they come to Nigeria and interfere in the general election, they would return to their country in “body bags” an outburst that was condemned across the world.
“Malam Nasir El-Rufai is clearly a religious bigot. This could be best explained by the Southern Kaduna people who are predominantly Christians on how they were maltreated in the last eight years.
“Apart from the muslim-muslim governorship ticket, where he never allowed Christians to deputise him, he forced a muslim woman on his successor and the development has pitched him against the party.
“He created chiefdoms in Christian dominated south and appointed traditional rulers of muslim religion, thereby promoting hate and malice among the communities.
“Your Excellency, you have proven your mettle of distaste for injustice and corruption and we plead that Malam Nasir El-Rufai should not be offered a slot of appointment representing Kaduna State.”