Former Kaduna State governor, Nasir El-Rufai, has revealed how late President Muhammadu Buhari withdrew his plan to appoint the late Chief Audu Ogbeh as Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF) after pressure from close associates.
In a video obtained yesterday, El-Rufai said Buhari was determined to appoint a Christian from the Middle Belt to address claims of religious partiality and ensure equilibrium in his administration.
Within one week of the election, a friend approached me requesting the SGF position. I relayed the request to Buhari, but he told me he had decided to appoint a Christian from the Middle Belt. He said, ‘Everyone says I don’t like Christians. I want to give the most critical job to the Middle Belt.’ When I inquired about whom he wanted, he replied, ‘Chief Audu Ogbeh,” El-Rufai said.
According to him, Buhari’s associates later worked against the choice, claiming Ogbeh had huge outstanding loans from his farming business and would focus on repaying them rather than serving the government.
“So they packaged a story that he owed one or two billion naira. Unfortunately, that changed Buhari’s mind,” El-Rufai said.
The former governor added that despite his efforts to convince Buhari that borrowing was not a crime and that Ogbeh was a successful farmer meeting his obligations, the president eventually dropped the plan and appointed someone else.
El-Rufai noted that this was the first time he was making the story public, stressing that Buhari’s initial commitment to Ogbeh was never disclosed.
