Kaduna State Governor, Nasir
El-Rufai has rubbished frequent claims that he is nursing a presidential
ambition, saying he is too old to be Nigeria’s president at 62.
The governor recently granted an
interview to BBC Pidgin, saying that many people had often accused him of
several things, including a purported presidential ambition.
He said at 62, he already had
grey hair because of the pressure of governing Kaduna State.
“look at me, look at my grey
hair. If you see my picture when I was sworn in, my hair was very black but
look at how it has become. This is a very difficult job and that is just state
governor, one state out of 36, a big one, yes; a difficult one, yes, but it is
not the same as Nigeria. President of Nigeria is a very serious job, it is too
much for a 62-year-old,” he stated.
He added that he is not
interested in becoming even the Vice President, as he had not thought about it
at all, insisting that the president in 2023 should go to the south.
El-Rufai said he had been
suffering this presidential ambition suspicion since 2006, saying he had
suffered it for 15 years as at today, adding that he is sick and tired of it.
According to him, there are
people out there to paint him in a particular picture so that, he would be out
of the presidential race, but that they did not know that he is not in any race
anywhere.
“They have called me all sort of
names; they said I am Jihadist and all that, Jihadist when? Where? I am not
even an active member of any Islanic organization. I am Muslim yes, a devote
one but, I believe religion is private. Even here in this office, when it is
time for prayer, I just excuse myself as if I am going to the restroom, I don’t
ask anyone to come and pray with me, because we will all go to our graves
separately.
“Look around me and see, I not
surrounded by only Muslims, this government is the only state government in
this country that has at least people from 13 other states of the Federation as
cabinet members,” he stated.
El-Rufai added that one of the
most influential persons in his life and one of his closest political
associates is Pastor Tunde Bakare.
He disclosed that it was Bakare
who actually introduced him to Buhari and CPC.
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