“Even if I’m offered (the position of the minister of the Federal Capital Territory by Tinubu), I’m not coming to Abuja. As I said, I never repeat the class. 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.”
This was the position of the current Governor of Kaduna State, Malam Nasir Ahmed El-Rufai, when he spoke on Tuesday at a policy conversation and book launch in Abuja, made it clear that he will accept to serve as FCT if offered by the President-elect, Bola Ahmed 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, 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. This was when my secondary school classmate was appointed 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 necessary. “So, I don’t think about the FCT. I’ve done my bit. “I won’t comment on the performance of those after me.
“Even if offered, I’m not coming to Abuja. As I said, I never repeat the class. 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.
Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, established in 1910, is one of the oldest and most respected think tanks in the world. It was ranked as the number one think tank in the 2020 Global Go-To Think Tank Index published by the Think Tanks and Civil Societies Programme of the University of Pennsylvania, US.