Has El-Rufai’s Ministerial Bid Finally Crumbled?

         POLITICAL NOTES

President Bola Tinubu on Tuesday nominated Abbas Balarabe as a ministerial replacement for the former Kaduna State Governor, Mallam Nasir El-Rufai.

The replacement was conveyed in a letter read by the Senate President, Senator Godswill Akpabio, at the plenary.

Balarabe’s name was read alongside Dr. Jamila Ibrahaim and Ayodele Olawande, who were earlier nominated as Minister of Youths and Minister of State for Youths, respectively.

In August when El-Rufai’s name was missing from the list of the ministerial nominees confirmed by the Senate, many believed his ministerial bid had crumbled following the withholding of his confirmation due to security-related concerns.

But before Tinubu submitted Balarabe’s name to the Senate, there were speculations that el-Rufai was lobbying the president secretly for his name to be resubmitted to the National Assembly.

In what many described as a face-saving effort, the former governor had, after his rejection by the senate, declared that he was no longer interested in becoming a minister.

Over the years, El-Rufai had gained notoriety for divisive utterances on religious and other national issues.

It was not surprising that a couple of petitions, including those sent by Senator Sunday Karimi (APC, Kogi West) were presented against the former governor during the screening.

Apart from his controversial comments on sensitive national issues, the former governor is accused by his critics of betraying all those who assisted him in his political career, including former President Olusegun Obasanjo, ex-Vice President Atiku Abubakar, former President Goodluck Jonathan, and very lately, former President Muhammadu Buhari.

One of his greatest critics and former senator from Kaduna State, Shehu Sani had stated that his political career is characterised by switching loyalty and allegiance, political sycophancy and crass opportunism.

Other critics had also warned Tinubu not to give him influential portfolio as he is allegedly capable of stabbing his benefactor at the back.

The former Kaduna State governor had also in the past publicly declared that he did not believe in President Tinubu’s style of politics.

His utterances on the Muslim-Muslim presidential tickets were also viewed by his critics as having the capacity to potentially hurt Tinubu’s efforts to heal the wounds of the last general election.

Many believe that the nomination of Balarabe to replace him and the embarrassment arising from his non-confirmation have dealt an irreparable blow to his political career.