A group, Like Minds Forum of Nigeria has criticised the Senate for withholding the confirmation of the former Governor of Kaduna State, Nasir El-Rufai, as a minister, describing it as procedurally wrong and politically defective.
The Forum including some political appointees who served in the El-Rufai administration, observed that the process of El-Rufai’s confirmation as minister after being nominated by President Bola Tinubu has taken the shape of a conspiracy against the former governor.
Addressing a news conference in Kaduna on Thursday, the convener of the Like Minds Forum of Nigeria and a former Commissioner for Education in the state, Professor Shehu Muhammad, wonders why security agencies have not arrested or charged El-Rufai to court based on the so-called petitions against him or the Senate being able to make the petitions public if indeed there is nothing fishy about the entire process.
Describing the treatment meted out against El-Rufai as a desperation of certain interests seeking vengeance against El-Rufai, the Forum commended the three senators from Kaduna State, for their testimonies and unanimous support for El-Rufai to be confirmed as a minister.
The group, however, called on the Senate to immediately clear and confirm El-Rufai as it did to other ministerial nominees in order to douse the rising tension and confusion in the North and other parts of the country.