President Bola Tinubu has nominated Abbas Balarabe, a former senator from Kaduna State, as a ministerial replacement for the former Kaduna Governor, Nasir El-Rufai.
The Senate President, GodsWill Akpabio, read the letter from the president at the plenary on Tuesday, announcing Balarabe’s name along with two other nominees for the Ministry of Youths.
They are Dr Jamila Ibrahaim and Ayodele Olawande, who were nominated as Minister of Youths and Minister of State for Youths respectively.
The PUNCH reports that El-Rufai’s name was missing from the list of the 45 ministerial nominees confirmed by the Senate in August.
The former governor faced several petitions during the screening exercise, especially over the issue of insecurity in Southern Kaduna.
The lawmaker representing Kogi West, Senator Sunday Karimi, presented a petition against El-Rufai, accusing him of failing to protect the lives and properties of the people in the region.
However, the Senate President refused to take the petition into consideration and said that many petitions were submitted against many nominees.
Other senators praised El-Rufai’s performance in various offices he had held in the past, such as the Bureau of Public Enterprises, the Federal Capital Territory and Kaduna State.
The lawmaker representing Kaduna North, Ibrahim Kalid, said he and his two colleagues from the state, as well as all the residents, were in support of El-Rufai’s nomination as minister.
