"NOBODY CAN BAR ME FROM VISITING PRESIDENT BUHARI AT THE VILLA"......... EL-RUFAI SAYS

Following the letter he wrote to President Muhammadu Buhari which was allegedly leaked to the press, Governor of Kaduna State, Nasir El-Rufai has claimed that there are people in Aso Rock who don’t like him.

Responding to a question on if powerful forces in the Presidency had barred him from visiting Buhari, el-Rufai has however, made it clear that nobody can bar him from visiting President Muhammadu Buhari at the Presidential Villa in Abuja.

The governor stated this Friday, while speaking with State House correspondents, after observing the Juma’at prayers with Buhari at the Aso Rock mosque.

He noted that there "are people in the Villa who like me and there are people in the Villa who don’t like me. It is normal".

el-Rufai maintained that his relationship with Buhari was still as cordial as ever.

This is the first time the Governor will be meeting President Buhari, since his memo to him went public.

Speaking on his confrontation with the Speaker of the House of Representatives, el-Rufai said he had nothing personal against the speaker of the lower chamber of the national assembly.

Every Nigerian had the right to tell the national assembly to open its budget and that he made the call in the interest of the country, he said.

"I have no problem with the Speaker. He is my kid brother. He respects me and I respect him".

"It is in the national assembly’s interest to actually publish its budget because there are rumours of bogus amounts of money that they are getting which I do not believe is true".

"I think that the best way to kill that rumour is to publish the details of their budget but some people took exception to that call for transparency and I have no apologies because as citizens we have the right to demand for transparency for how resources are being spent".

"This N100 billion or so budget of the national assembly is money belonging to the people of Nigeria and every Nigerian has the right to ask and I am exercising that right as a citizen not even as a governor".

Tasked on his relationship with the Senate President, El-Rufai said his relationship with Senate President Bukola Saraki is also cordial, explaining that his call about transparency is in the interest of Nigerians.

"I have no problem with the senate president, we worked together in the past, and I am confident that we will work together in the future in the interest of Nigeria but demand for accountability is not a problem and should not be construed to be undermining or any such thing", el-Rufai said.

"It is only someone who has something to hide that will do things like that and I don’t believe that the national assembly have things to hide", he said.