El-Rufai told his audience that one of the most daring decisions he had taken was picking a fellow female Muslim as his deputy.
He said the choice was made to downplay religion and ethnicity in Kaduna State, having inherited a state that was so ethnicized and religionized.
El-Rufai said, ”A lot has been said about some the decisions I have taken over the years, what people call daring decisions.
“Let me make a confession today. All the examples of the decisions that I have made that are supposed to be daring and courageous; the most daring one is that last year, I took a decision to pick a woman, a Muslim, as my running mate to contest election in Kaduna State.
“It was the most daring decision I have taken because in this state, everything is religionised.
“We are trying to cure our state of that religionisation and ethnicisation and I thought the best way to do it is to take religion off the table of Kaduna State politics. That was why we finally settled for Dr. Hadiza Balarabe.”
Meanwhile the Ooni of Ife, Oba Adeyeye Ogunwusi, described El-Rufai as a small man with massive capacity for results.
Ogunwusi said Nigeria as a nation needed the likes of El-Rufai who would take tough decisions to achieve the much-needed results.
The Secretary-General of the Arewa Consultative Forum, Mr. Anthony Sani, said Nigerian leaders must come together to tackle problems facing the country.
The ACF secretary said, “When the Emir of Kano, Sarki Kano Muhammadu Sanusi 11 says if the North does not stand up and confront the prevalence of Almajirai, out-of-school children, girl-child education and drug abuse among youths, as well as against poverty that comes with unemployment and ignorance and population explosion, the region can get to a tipping point, he is stating the truism. A truism in the sense that all the listed challenges are harbinger of insecurity. I want to add the fact that these challenges can transcend regional boundaries.
He recalled that kidnapping started in few states before spreading to other parts of the country.
According to him, not only Northern governors, but all leaders across the country must come together to solve the problems.