‘Govt house not a place of worship,’ El-Rufai justifies choice of a Muslim as running mate

Governor Nasir el-Rufai of Kaduna State on Tuesday justified his choice of Hadiza Balarabe, the current Executive Secretary of the Kaduna State Primary Health Care Development Agency, as his deputy governorship candidate.

Alluding to the need to enthrone merit over sentiments, el-Rufai said, “… from the beginning, I had told my team that, I will never choose or deny anyone appointment because of religion or ethnicity.

“But some people have started all manner of things, ‘Muslim-Muslim ticket’ and so on. But government house is not a place of worship, we come here to work for the people.

“The people that have criticized me most on this are people who never voted me in the first place. So, are they not supposed to be celebrating if in their own opinion I have made a wrong choice? Then, why are they mourning?”

Read also: AGGRIEVED APC ASPIRANTS: ‘The more Oshiomhole talks, the more crisis he creates’

The Governor spoke Tuesday when he received a delegation from Sanga LGA who came to thank him for selecting their daughter as his running mate.

According to him, Mrs Balarabe defeated 32 other nominees to emerge as his running mate.

“We started piling list of people for consideration, and I had up to 32 names, including names of some people seated with me here today,” he said. “Then, we started selection and dropping of names based on merit. From 32 manes to 17 to 12 and then five names, three males and two females.

“At that point, and as usual of us, when we are taking serious decisions, we consult President Muhammadu Buhari, because he is the only person I know that has worked in the army, he has been governor, minister and president.

“So, when I told him, he said anyone older than you should be dropped, then one name was dropped, remaining two men and two women, then he said, since you are interested in a woman pick the best woman. That was how I picked Hadiza because she was the best.”

Join the conversation

Opinions

Support Ripples Nigeria, hold up solutions journalism

Balanced, fearless journalism driven by data comes at huge financial costs.

As a media platform, we hold leadership accountable and will not trade the right to press freedom and free speech for a piece of cake.

If you like what we do, and are ready to uphold solutions journalism, kindly donate to the Ripples Nigeria cause.

Your support would help to ensure that citizens and institutions continue to have free access to credible and reliable information for societal development.

Donate Now