Governor Nasir El-Rufai of Kaduna state has claimed that some top officials in the Aso Rock Presidential Villa, Abuja, are working against the presidential bid of the All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
El-Rufai who spoke on Channels Television, Wednesday, alleged without evidence that the top presidential officials and confidants are frustrating Tinubu’s bid in the forthcoming election because their preferred aspirant did not win the party’s presidential ticket.
The New Diplomat reports that El-Rufai’s statement comes barely a week after Tinubu had also alleged that the lingering fuel scarcity and the crisis following the deadline issued by the CBN for the old Naira notes were ploys to derail his presidential ambition.
El-Rufai said, “I believe there are elements in the villa that want us to lose the election because they didn’t get their way. They had their candidate but their candidate didn’t win the primary election.
“I think they are still trying to get us to lose the election and they are hiding behind the president’s desire to do what he thinks is right.”
The Kaduna State governor also alleged that the ‘elements’ were behind the non-removal of petrol subsidy, claiming after he had a conversation with Buhari where it was agreed that subsidy should be removed.
El-Rufai argued that the same Aso Rock ‘elements’ were allegedly behind the faulty implementation of Naira notes swap introduced by the Central Bank of Nigeria amid financial crisis in the country.
“They are trying to get us to lose the election, and they are hiding behind the president’s desire to do what he thinks is right. I will give two examples: this petroleum subsidy, which is costing the country trillions of Naira, was something that we all agreed would be removed.
“In fact, I had a discussion with the president and showed him why it had to go. Because how can you have a capital budget of N200b for federal roads and then spend N2 Trillion on petroleum subsidy? This was a conversation I had with the president in 2021 when the subsidy thing started rising. He was convinced. We left. It changed. Everyone in the government agreed, and it changed.
“The second example I will give is this currency redesign. You have to understand the president. People are blaming the Governor of the Central Bank for the currency redesign, but No. You have to go back and look at the first outing of Buhari as president. He did this; the Buhari, Idiagbon regime changed our currency and did it in secrecy with a view to catching those that are stashing away illicit funds.
“It is a very good intention. The president has his right. But doing it at this time within the allotted time does not make any political or economic sense.” El-Rufai posited. However, despite the cash crunch in the country, there have been thumbs up from certain quarters, insisting the currency redesign will curb vote-buying and illicit election funds ahead of Nigeria’s presidential poll later this month.
