Governor Uba Sani of Kaduna State has refuted a media report that he opposed the recommended replacement of his predecessor, Nasir El-Rufai, as a minister-designate.
OsunDailyNG reports that El-Rufai is among the 48 ministerial nominees sent to the Senate by President Bola Tinubu, but he is yet to be cleared by the Senate on the basis of pending security reports against him.
Following the delay of his security clearance, El-Rufai reportedly met with President Tinubu within the week and turned down the appointment and recommended that his former Commissioner, Jafaru Sani, should replace him.
However, a report emerged on Saturday afternoon that Governor Sani met with President Tinubu and rejected the nomination of Jafaru as a minister-designate from Kaduna.
But in a chat with Channels Television on Saturday night, Governor Sani described the report that he rejected Jafaru’s nomination on the ground that he is a loyalist of el-Rufai as false and misleading.
The governor stated that he only met with President Tinubu to discuss recent issues concerning his predecessor’s ministerial nomination, and at no time did he oppose or rejected the man that was recommended by El-Rufai.
He explained that the story was aimed at creating friction between him and El-Rufai, noting what is paramount to him is the image of his predecessor than any other consideration.
He said: “What is true in the story is that I met with the president. Every other thing is false and a conjecture to create friction between me and Mallam (El-Rufai).
“I went to see the president specifically because I was worried by the turn of events. I believe both of them mean well for the country.
“At no time did we discuss the issue of replacement. That is the least of my worries.
“If indeed Mallam wants to nominate a replacement, I will never oppose his choice. We are on the same page. Those who know us very well know that this is all lies. We know where the disinformation is coming from but we are not bothered.”
