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Former Kaduna State governor, Nasir El-Rufai, on Monday night revealed how a false bank-loan allegation derailed former President Muhammadu Buhari’s initial plan to appoint Chief Audu Ogbeh as Secretary to the Government of the Federation, SGF.
Speaking during a Night of Tribute held at the Bola Tinubu International Conference Centre, ICC, in Abuja, El-Rufai narrated a behind-the-scenes encounter shortly after the All Progressives Congress (APC) won the 2015 presidential election.
According to him, a close friend who had worked for the party’s victory sought his help to secure the SGF position.
El-Rufai said he approached Buhari, then president-elect, who explained that he intended to pick a Christian from the Middle Belt for the top job and asked El-Rufai to relay the decision.
El-Rufai recounted that Buhari later confided he had settled on Audu Ogbeh, describing him as his only choice for the post.
However, the plan changed when some individuals around the president allegedly claimed that Ogbeh owed banks as much as N2 billion from his agricultural ventures and would be distracted by personal debts.
“The next time the president called me, he said some things had come up and he was appointing someone else as SGF,” El-Rufai told the audience.
“After the announcement, I found out he had been told Chief Ogbeh owed a huge loan and would focus on repaying it instead of the job.
“Borrowing is not a crime; he runs a thriving farm and was servicing the loan.”
El-Rufai added that Buhari later admitted he had been misled and sought to make amends by appointing Ogbeh as Minister of Agriculture.
“I’m saying this for the first time,” El-Rufai said, adding that the conversation had remained private until the tribute event.
Chief Audu Ogbeh, a former national chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party and respected farmer, eventually served as Minister of Agriculture from 2015 to 2019.
