El-Rufai Fires Back at Reno Omokri in Heated Political Clash Over Ministerial Appointments

 

Nasir El-Rufai, the former governor of Kaduna State, went on the offensive against Reno Omokri, a former aide to ex-President Goodluck Jonathan, after Omokri accused him of being frustrated for not being appointed as a minister by President Bola Tinubu.

El-Rufai didn’t hold back, calling Omokri a "political mercenary" who’ll work for anyone willing to pay. He also brought up an old controversy where an American woman accused Omokri of stealing her son's identity to falsely link former Central Bank Governor, Lamido Sanusi, to Boko Haram.

The whole thing started when Omokri tweeted over the weekend, saying El-Rufai was just "pretending" to be upset about the Lagos rail project not getting federal funding, while ignoring the fact that the Buhari administration had once taken a $2 billion loan to build a railway in Niger. Omokri pointed out that Nigeria had invested heavily in a foreign country’s infrastructure and questioned why Lagos, which contributes so much to Nigeria’s economy, shouldn’t get similar treatment.

El-Rufai didn’t take kindly to the tweet, replying with pictures showing Omokri protesting against Tinubu’s election and criticizing him in the past. He mocked Omokri’s flip-flopping political alliances, calling him out for being a mercenary for whoever's paying.

The comments stirred up a lot of chatter among Nigerian politicians. Some All Progressives Congress (APC) members seemed to think El-Rufai's remarks were a jab at Tinubu's administration.

Meanwhile, Senator Shehu Sani, a former lawmaker from Kaduna, jumped into the fray, accusing El-Rufai of hypocrisy. Sani criticized him for staying quiet during former President Buhari’s time when accusations of nepotism were all over the place. He even reminded El-Rufai of how "Southern Kaduna" was marginalized for eight years under Buhari’s government.

Sani pointed out that while everyone has the right to criticize Tinubu for any perceived lopsided appointments, El-Rufai didn’t exactly have the moral high ground to do so. Looks like the political drama is far from over!