Buhari forced me to contest for Kaduna governor- El-Rufai
Buhari forced me to contest for Kaduna governor- El-Rufai
El-Rufai said he never had any ambition to govern a state.
Governor Nasir El-Rufai says he did not have an ambition to become the governor of Kaduna State but President Muhammadu Buhari ‘literally forced’ him to contest.
El-Rufai said Buhari asked him to run because he felt there was a need for some ‘strong governance’.
The governor said this on Thursday, February 22, 2022, during the weekly ministerial press briefing organised by the Presidential Communications Team at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
He said, “I have zero ambition. I just want to finish this job, get on with my private life, write another book and make tonnes of money. The largest amount of money I ever got in my life was from writing the book, ‘Accidental Public Servant’. I have no ambition; I’ve never had any ambition. And if I die today, I am quite accomplished and happy, because I never in my life, based on my humble background, ever thought I would even enter this building.
“God has been very kind to me. And my outings in the public service have all been satisfactory? Why push my luck and go for a job with a 90 per cent chance of failure? So, I’m not an ambitious person. I’m just a person that gets things done when given the opportunity. I’ve never desired to run even for this governorship. It was President Buhari who literally forced me to run. He insisted that some of us run for governorship just in case he did not get elected again. He felt that we needed some ‘strong governance’. Those were the words he used. So, I have no aspirations.”
On zoning of political positions within the All Progressives Congress (APC), El-Rufai said the party is not zoning its presidential ticket to any region yet.
“We are not talking about the Presidency yet. When we do this convention, we’ll elect national officers; then, we will start preparing for the primaries that will produce our candidates for the House of Reps, Senate and the Presidency. That’s when this conversation will take place.” he said.
Asked if he would support a candidate from the South-West, the governor said, he would support any APC candidate if he’s satisfied that the candidate would do the best for Nigeria.
