“You have no moral right to criticize Tinubu,” Northern group to El-Rufai
Northern Patriots Forum (NPF), on Wednesday, came hard on the former Governor of Kaduna State, Mallam Nasir El-Rufai, for criticizing President Ahmed Bola Tinubu and his administration.
El-Rufai had, during his interview on Arise Television on Monday, accused President Tinubu and National Security Adviser (NSA), Mallam Nuhu Ribadu of orchestrating his failed ministerial nomination.
The former kaduna State Governor specifically said it was President Tinubu who did not want him in his cabinet, and not any security report, while also accusing the NSA of fighting him due to his (Ribadu) Presidential ambition in 2031.
Reacting through a statement signed by its Coordinator, Capt. Monday Ishakwu, on Wednesday, the Northern Patriot Forum said El-Rufai lacks moral right to attack President Tinubu in such a manner, having served for 8 years as Kaduna Governor.
While warning Mallam El-Rufai to guide his utterances, the Forum opined that it was his conducts as Kaduna State Governor that made him unpopular politically in the north, and discredited him during the ministerial screening
The statement further read “President Tinubu actually wanted him to join his cabinet. He actually nominated him and sincerely reserved a lucrative portfolio, if he had scaled through the Senate screening.
“But multiple security reports from security agencies indicted him and suggested he would be a ‘diplomatic liability’, should he eventually emerged a cabinet member of President Tinubu.
“The agencies cited his controversial past statements and actions. One of such incidents was his 2019 threat to European Union election observers, where he warned, ‘We are waiting for the person who will come and intervene. They will go back in body bags’.
“He blames everyone for what his mouth has cost him. It is either he is blaming the Kaduna Governor, or he is blaming Ribadu, or Senator Shehu Sanni, or he is blaming President Tinubu. What an obsession!
“He has forgotten all his atrocious outings as Kaduna Governor, he never knew all those would come to hunt him after his tenure. He could enjoy constitutional immunity, but he can’t erase the bad impressions on the memories of Nigerians and international community.
