APC governors unable to address El-Rufai’s situation – Sule

Sule, a member of the PGF, emphasized that El-Rufai has not left the ruling party despite his rejection by the National Assembly as a ministerial nominee in August 2023.

“El-Rufai has not departed from our party; he is still a part of it,” Sule said during an appearance on Channels Television’s *Politics Today* program on Wednesday.

He added, “The reasons behind his nomination and subsequent rejection by the Senate and security agencies are not topics we have discussed at the Progressives Governors’ Forum or even the Nigeria Governors’ Forum. They are not our concerns, and thus we can do nothing about them.

“It is the President’s prerogative to nominate his ministers, and he made his nominations. There are also agencies, including the National Assembly, that confirm or reject these nominations, and they chose to reject him,” explained the Nasarawa governor.

El-Rufai was among the northern leaders who advocated for the APC presidential ticket for the 2023 elections to be awarded to a southern candidate, adhering to the unwritten principle of power rotation between Nigeria’s northern and southern regions, following the eight-year tenure of President Muhammadu Buhari from the North-West.

As governor of Kaduna from May 2015 to May 2023, El-Rufai was a strong supporter of former Lagos Governor Bola Tinubu as the party’s candidate in the last elections.

He and other northern governors backed Tinubu against two other northern contenders, Senate President Ahmad Lawan and former Jigawa Governor Mohammed Badaru.

Tinubu eventually secured the APC ticket and was elected President of Nigeria in the February 2023 elections.

In the realm of Nigerian politics, where compensation is often a factor, Tinubu nominated El-Rufai as one of his ministers three months after taking office.

However, El-Rufai encountered issues with key figures in the current administration and was rejected by the Senate during the ministerial vetting process, with security concerns cited by the Department of State Services as a reason for his rejection.

Since the August 2023 incident, El-Rufai has not been seen at gatherings of APC leaders and has distanced himself from the Aso Villa, the presidential seat of power, as well as from President Tinubu, whom he actively campaigned for.

Conversely, El-Rufai has been spotted with members of the Social Democratic Party (SDP), fueling speculation of a possible defection, which he has denied.

His relationship with his successor, Sani Uba, has soured, with the state assembly investigating his eight-year administration for alleged corruption, which El-Rufai has refuted.