Special Adviser to President Bola Tinubu on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga has stated that the former governor of Kaduna State, Nasir El-Rufai is feeling hurt over his exemption from the Tinubu administration as a minister.
LEADERSHIP recalls that El-Rufai claimed on Monday during an interview with Arise TV, that it was President Tinubu and not the National Assembly that blocked his nomination as a minister after initially asking him to join the government.
“The National Assembly had nothing to do with it, the president didn’t want me in his cabinet,” El-Rufai had said.
Reacting to his statement on Tuesday during an interview on Channels TV, Onanuga said, “As a person, I think I will pity former governor of Kaduna State, Nasir El-Rufai. He feels hurt that he was not made a minister…I think it is time for him to move on.
“You cannot continue to behave like a child as if somebody stole your bread and things like that and then you’re crying over spilt milk?
“It’s natural for him to feel hurt, excluded and I think that as the president acknowledged in a recent birthday tribute to him, Nasiru actually helped a lot in installing President Tinubu and if he’s not there, it doesn’t mean that he must bring down the roof.”
Onanuga stressed that the president has nothing against El-Rufai, reiterating that the ex-governor was only frustrated for not being part of the Federal Government.
He said El-Rufai’s criticism of the Tinubu administration does not “reflect reality,” adding that the government inherited numerous problems, but “things are getting better.”
