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I’d have resigned as Tinubu’s Minister – el-Rufai *I had plans for 24-7 electricity
“If I was made a Minister, I’d probably have resigned once I saw the direction of the government. I would have resigned and said the same thing. People think that this Minister is a big thing. I was Minister when I was 43 years – 20 years before. People forgot that I left the FCT in 2007 – 17 years ago. I have no desire to be Minister, I didn’t want anything, I made it clear.”
These were the words of Nasir El-Rufai, former Governor of Kaduna State, as he pushed back for the umpteenth time against talks that he is beefing President Bola Tinubu because he was denied a place in his cabinet after being rejected by the Senate which refused to clear him for the position in 2023.
A guest on Sunday Politics, a political programme on Channels Television, El-Rufai, one of the political arrowheads pushing for the removal of Tinubu from office in 2027 under the coalition of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), insisted that no amount of propaganda to push a negative narrative against his person would succeed.
He said: “As I said, people’s opinion about me doesn’t make lose any sleep. I know who I am. I sleep well every night. I don’t need anybody to validate me or allow your criticism to affect me. I’m still around. But Bello Turji is not a security threat, Dogo Gide is not a security threat. Everyday they announce that they have killed one, but the most important terrorists are still roaming the streets.
“The security threat is an exit strategy for Bola Tinubu, because he had changed his mind about wanting me to be Minister. I don’t know what his reasons are. But he changed his mind. I’m hearing that I was going to use the position to advance my political ambition for the first time.
“First, I’m probably the only Nigerian politician that doesn’t have an ambition. Every position I’ve had in office, I was asked, I was invited, I was literally begged, like Tinubu begged me on the platform in Kaduna, because I get things done. I’ve never had ambitions. I get difficult things done. That’s why Obasanjo wanted me in his government, that’s why Buhari asked me to go and be governor of Kaduna State.
“What was I going to be? I was going to be Minister of Power in charge of electricity and I had a plan that in 2030, every part of Nigeria would have been covered with 24-7 electricity. That was the plan I gave Tinubu. What is the ambition there? What if I even had ambition? If the work I’ll do will provide Nigerians with electricity and solve their problems, what will my ambitions have to do with it?
“Is the country not important to tolerate my ambition if I had any? It is sheer idiocy and lack of love for country for people to play games like that with the destiny of this country. So, they have their Minister of Power. I took my entire plan which I developed and I gave the entire plan to the government.
“Why can’t they implement it so that Nigerians will have electricity? By 2030, every part of the country would have been covered and we have reliable electricity. I have given them the plan. You ask them what they have done with it. The purpose of having power is to do something with it. If I feel I have solutions to Nigerian problems and I can make contributions and I’m the best candidate and I can win, I’ll go for the office. But I don’t think so now.”
Seyi Makinde of Oyo State, Governor of Oyo State, on Thursday, finally threw his hats into the ring by declaring his intention to run for president in 2027, with a message – history beckons.
The governor, whose ambition has been a matter of speculations for months now and who had teamed up with forces angling to force President Bola Tinubu, out of power, told a teeming crowd in Ibadan on Thursday that time had come to reset Nigeria.
At a mega-rally to announce the alliance between the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), and the Allied Peoples’ Movement, (APM), Makinde, expressed worry over the dwindling fortunes of Nigerians, vowing to engage Nigerians to end the drift.
Hear him: “Without a multi-party system, there is no democracy. Where is our multi-party? Where do we go from here? We have been pushed to the wall.
“They calculated and self-opposition cannot unite but I am here to say that the opposition is the everyday Nigerian. This is the time for all us to ensure Nigeria works for us. This is the time to confront it fears. It is time to engage as citizens and not spectators.
“For the opposition political parties, this is the time to unite and work in unity and give our nation the much reset it needs. The time to reset Nigeria is now. Ibadan is the city of warriors. The first grand alliance is formed. The PDP and APM is formed. This handshake will allow us to field candidates from presidency to state Assembly. And so, I declare my candidacy for office of the president of Nigeria.”
Eyo Ekpe, a professor of cardiothoracic surgery at the University of Uyo Teaching Hospital (UUTH), on Wednesday, gave a detailed account on how operatives of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) manhandled him on Monday.
He told reporters that he was at sea on why he should fall victim to the assault against his person and eventually arrested given that was not right person directly involved in the information the agency sought.
Some operatives of the EFCC who invaded the hospital, had whisked Ekpe away after firing teargas to scare away the workers, patients and visitors to the hospital, following what appeared like a fracas the ensued over what it claimed was a routine duty in the facility.
Ekpe, Deputy Chairman of the hospital’s Medical Advisory Committee (MAC), described how an operative had first entered his office to make inquiries on why the hospital was yet to give a response to an EFCC inquiry over a medical report linked to a suspect facing trial.
He detailed how he briefed the operative that the said response was being prepared and even went ahead to show him the draft of a letter in that regard, which needed to go through the gamut of official endorsement before being released.
Hear him: “The head of that internal medicine department looked at the report and also discovered that the name of the doctor that signed the report is not a member of staff of that department.
“I had prepared prepared a response to the EFCC on Monday, May 11, 2026, based on the findings. When the EFCC operative visited my office the next morning to collect the document, I told him that the response was ready in draft. I even showed him the draft, but told him that the document still needed approval from the Chief Medical Director (CMD) of the hospital before it could be officially signed and released.
“He pretended to have accepted that. He left, but later later returned with another armed operative and informed me that I was under arrest. I asked him why. I was not the one that issued the medical report. My name is not on the medical report. The report was not issued from my unit.
“But he said I would get the answer when I get to their office. I then asked him to at least wait for my staff member who I sent on an errand before joining them. But they refused.
“They started pushing me. They dragged me out of the office. Then I began to cry while they were dragging me. They had warned me not to speak. They had taken my phone. My cry as they were dragging me, attracted the workers to the scene, who enquired what was going on, but because they ordered me not to speak, I couldn’t say anything. They had their guns.
The members of staff of the hospital initially blocked them from taking me away. They then made a call. After that I saw many masked and armed men came violently, broke the protector, threatening the people that were around and people ran away.
“They picked some staff that were still by me. they dragged me and other staff, five of us into their van downstairs. By that time they discovered that the gate of the hospital were locked. So, they drove towards the gate and packed and the commotion continued. We were inside the van.
“I was so emotionally and psychologically traumatised that I couldn’t even look out of the vehicle to see what was happening outside. But I know that teargas and live bullets were shot. That’s all I can say for now.”
Joyce Abdulmalik, of the Federal High Court, Abuja, heard on Wednesday, how Zenith Bank raised alarm over the huge transaction in one of its branches by Abubakar Malami, former Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice (AGF-MoJ).
The bank said it immediately filed a Suspicious Transaction Report (STR) in respect to the transactions, during its appearance in the ongoing trial of Malami, his wife, and son over allegation of massive looting of funds belonging to the Federal Government during his tenure.
Mashelia Bata, a compliance officer with the bank, who appeared as witness in the case, where Malami, et al, are facing a 16-count charge bordering on alleged money laundering to the tune of N8.7 billion, to which they pleaded not guilty, gave the testimony while being questioned on the bank’s roles in the matter.
Details of the testimony conveyed by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), stated how the compliance officer who was cross-examined by Adebayo Adedeji, lawyer to the defendants admitted that the deposits in the account statements complied with the guidelines of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).
Arguments had stretched when Adedeji, opposed Jibrin Okutepa (SAN), lawyer to the EFCC, who had asked the witness to explain the meaning of a suspicious transaction report, stressing that there was no ambiguity in the term.
However, Okutepa, in response, maintained that section 215(3) of the Evidence Act did not preclude him from re-examining the witness while urging the court to allow the question for proper explanation.
After Abdulmalik, agreed and overruled Adedeji, the witness told the court that banks were required to alert the Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU) about fund deposits coming in a repetitive pattern, adding: “Any deposition of funds seen in a pattern or repetitive, you must escalate it to the NFIU.”
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