Mallam Nasir El-Rufai, former Kaduna State governor, has alleged that some people paid money to secure ministerial appointments in the President Bola Tinubu’s administration.
El-Rufai made this claim during a recent interview with the BBC Hausa Service.
Speaking again on the ministerial snub in the Tinubu’s government, El-Rufai said he never contested the position, however revealing that he knew some people who paid to be appointed ministers.
“I know those who even paid money to be appointed as ministers,” he alleged.
The former governor, while explaining his decision to leave the All Progressives Congress (APC) for the Social Democratic Party (SDP), El-Rufai said he sought the approval of former President Muhammadu Buhari before making the move.
“The APC has derailed, the party is no longer abiding by its founding principles. Everyone is working for himself, looking for money. The government is commercialized, everything has a price tag.
“Justice has been kept at bay, those who worked for the party were ignored instead of being compensated. If there is any position or appointment, they give it to a Lagos boy, etc.
“That is why we’ve been speaking, we spoke, we said this is not the party we know. The party is dead. I said the only option is for me to meet Pastor Tunde Bakare, because he dragged me into APC. He took me to Buhari. I did not join the APC because of Buhari, it was Pastor Bakare who dragged me to APC, and courtesy demands I should let him know.
ALSO READ:I didn’t contest, Tinubu begged me to become minister — El-Rufai
“Buhari too, I told him I was leaving the party, I sought his blessings and prayers. He said he has given me his blessings and prayers. We are the ones in politics, he (Buhari) is now father of the land and has been praying for us, so what remains?
“I’ve publicly denounced my membership of the party, they can go and hold on to the party, they can eat the party alone like food, we’ve given up.”
El-Rufai dismissed claims that he left the APC to avoid being expelled, stating that he was sidelined within the party.
“That would’ve been much easier for me, but look at it, as I kept on saying, I did not leave the party, it’s the party that dumped me. Why did it leave me? First of all, I was marginalized, not involved in all party activities. Not that I was invited and refused to honour the invite, I was completely sidelined.
“Secondly, what we had planned to implement when we formed government is not what’s being implemented,” he further stated.
and then