A former Minister of Communications, Adebayo Shittu, has urged President Bola Tinubu to “rehabilitate Mallam Nasir El-Rufai.”
El-Rufai, a former Kaduna State governor dumped the ruling All Progressives Congress for the Social Democratic Party; and has been speaking ill of the incumbent after failing out with President Tinubu due to his ill-fated ministerial appointment.
The ex-minister in an interview with Punchng has his say on the tension between the President and the former governor.
He said something to the effect that Tinubu was unfair to El-Rufai, and urged him to mend the fractured relationship.
“I keep remembering the pivotal role he(El-Rufai) played in getting the North to support a Tinubu’s presidency. I mean, there’s no running away from that fact. We know also that Tinubu really courted his support with promises that he would be brought into governance.
“So, when we see what has happened, naturally as a human being, El-Rufai will be disappointed. For me as an individual, and I’m speaking the truth in accordance with my conscience, I don’t see any northern politician who did much more for Tinubu’s emergence as El-Rufai.
“I don’t see it, and I’m being fair because being a very courageous person, when other people were not sure of supporting Tinubu, he came out boldly agitating and mobilising.
“You also recall that at a stage, he took the the Buhari government to court when they were playing pranks about money redesign and all of that. So, I think that President Tinubu should try and forge a new alliance with him. It is very important, and it is only fair. To whom much is given, much more is expected. I think he should be rehabilitated and brought in,” he remarked.
