Leadership: El-Rufai feeling hurt over disappointment of not being made a Minister ─Onanuga

*Bayo Onanuga, Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy, urges Malam Nasir El-Rufai, ex-Minister and former Governor of Kaduna State, to move on with life, following the disappointment of not being made a Minister in President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s cabinet

Alexander Davis | ConsumerConnect

Mr. Bayo Onanuga, Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy, has advised Malam Nasir El-Rufai to learn how to move on with life, following the disappointment of not being made a Minister in President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s cabinet.

Onanuga, who said this Tuesday, February 25, 2025, while featuring on a Channels TV programme, monitored in Lagos, affirmed former Minister and ex-Kaduna State Governor El-Rufai is still hurting for being left out during Tinubu’s ministerial appointments.

Mr. Bayo Onanuga, Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy

It is recalled that President Tinubu initially, had nominated El-Rufai as a Minister while forming his cabinet in 2023, but the nominee eventually did not scale through the regulatory screening process in the Nigerian Senate.

In regard to the fallout of the ministerial disappointment, El-Rufai is said to have become critical of the Tinubu administration and the ruling All Progressives Congress in recent times.

El-Rufai, in a recent interview also claimed that it was not the Senate that rejected him as a Minister but President Tinubu himself.

El-Rufai still ‘crying over spilt milk’

Speaking on the private television show Tuesday, Onanuga acknowledged even though El-Rufai worked hard for Tinubu’s emergence as the Nigerian President, it is time for the immediate past Governor of Kaduna State to move on from the disappointment of not being made a Minister.

The Presidential aide also stated: “I will pity former Kaduna State Governor Malam Nasir El-Rufai.

“He feels hurt that he was not made a Minister; but I think it’s time for him to move on.

“You cannot continue to behave like a child as if someone stole his bread and things like that, and then you are crying over spilt milk.”

Acknowledging the fact that it is normal for El-Rufai to feel aggrieved having worked hard for the election of President Tinubu, Onanuga, however, said that the President is not in denial of his efforts at the time.

He further noted: “It is natural for him to feel bad that he has been excluded.

“I think the President has acknowledged in a recent tribute to him that Nasir did a lot in installing President Tinubu, and if he is not there (the cabinet), it doesn’t mean he will bring down the roof.”

Tinubu has nothing against El-Rufai, but the former Kaduna Governor is going about everywhere campaign against the President because he feels hurt, said the Presidential Spokesman.

Onanuga urged El-Rufai to let go of the ill-feeling because he has been in public service since 1999 after all.

“It’s time for him to move on,” said the Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy.