I’m Too Old For Demolition, Can’t Be FCT Minister Under Tinubu — El-Rufai

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Governor Nasir El-Rufai of Kaduna State has said he will not serve as Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) under the administration of President-elect Bola Ahmed Tinubu.

El-Rufai played a key role in the power shift from north to south, an arrangement which worked in favour of President-elect Bola Tinubu.

There have been speculations that the outgoing governor will either serve as Chief of Staff or FCT Minister in the incoming government.

But El-Rufai, whom ex-President Olusegun Obasanjo appointed FCT minister, had earlier distanced himself from the reports that he is eyeing the position.

Speaking at a policy conversation and book launch in Abuja on Tuesday, El-Rufai said: “I have done my job, I’m done, I don’t look back. In fact, when I left FCT, the only time I visited FCT was in 2016 when my secondary school classmate was appointed the minister and he said he wanted to see me, so I went there.

“Once I leave a job, I don’t look back. If I leave Kaduna in 19 days, I will only visit if it becomes necessary. So, I don’t think about the FCT. I’ve done my bit. I don’t comment on the performance of those that came after me.

“Even if offered, I’m not coming to Abuja. As I say, I never repeated a class and there are many young people I know that I can recommend that would do an even better job than I did as minister of FCT.

“I’m too old for this. I’m too old for demolition, get a young man with blood in his veins or a young woman.”

The event was jointly organised by the Africa Programme of the US-based Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and the Abuja-based Agora Policy.