A former Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nasir El-Rufai, may have dumped THISDAY newspaper . His ‘ My Friday Column’ had been a regular feature on the influential back page of the national daily every friday.
Pointblanknews.com got the hint from El-Rufai’s facebook page where he announced that his column, El-Rufai on Friday, will no longer appear in the paper. He however did not say why.
It was however learnt that El-Rufai disagreed with controversial Publisher Nduka Obaigbena who insited the column should be exclusive to Thisday only.
Currently the column is syndicated in Abuja based Peoples’ Daily and some online blogs.
The former minister posted last night on his facebook page “My Friday Column, El-Rufai on Friday will no longer appear on the Back Page of Thisday,” Mr. El-Rufai said in an update Thursday night. “It will continue to be on the Back Page of People’s Daily and on other web-based platforms. Thanks to all those that have read and encouraged me to write the column.”
Sources at Thisday hinted that for a while . Obaigbena had insisted the column remained an exclusive preserve of Thisday for no apparent reason, but El-Rufai kicked and made it clear it was either he syndicated it or he would not mind if Obaigbena yanked it.
It was gathered when the matter could not be resolved and each flank remained adamant, Obaigbena directed Daily editor, Ijeoma Nwogwugwu, to pull the column.
The often critical column, had consistently kicked Federal Goverment policies, especially socio-economic.
El-Rufai, Nwogwugwu and the Publisher could not be reached for comments.