Governor of Kaduna State,Malam Nasir El -rufai on Wednesday alleged that some persons around President Muhammadu Buhari are working against the victory of Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, the presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress APC.
Speaking on Channels Programme, Sunrise Daily, El – Rufai said that ‘those elements’ had their candidate in the presidential primary , but their candidate didn’t win the primary.
The governor said that because their candidate didn’t pick the ticket, they were working against the party and the presidential candidate. .
According to him, those elements in the presidency are trying to hide behind the president’s desire to do what is right to stop the party’s chances in the February 25 presidential election.
The Kaduna state governor said that the petroleum subsidy still in force and the naira redesign at a time like this did not make any political or economic sense
He advised Nigerians not to blame Godwin Emefiele, the CBN governor for redesigning of the naira as he recalled that Buhari did same as a Military Head of state to catch those hoarding the Nigerian currency
“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. Their candidate did not win the primaries.
“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 N200bn 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.”
The clarification by El-Rufai comes amid insinuations that the presidency is not in support of Tinubu.
Recall that the main opposition party, the Peoples Democratic Party PDP had during one of its attacks at the APC presidential candidate said the body language of Buhari suggested that he was not with the APC standard bearer given his non appearance at party campaigns.
Although the APC spokespersons had countered that, and Buhari had attended some campaigns lifting the candidate’s hand, recent accounts and artificially inflated hardship of scarcity of new Naira notes and petrol in the country speak volumes of orchestrated treachery in high places.
Tinubu who appears to be aware of what is going on expectedly girded for eventualities as his speech during the presidential rally of the party in Abeokuta , the Ogun state capital revealed.
He had told his large gathering of supporters that he would win despite the lingering fuel scarcity and the naira redesign which are calculated attempts to stop his victory .
It would be recalled that shortly before the APC convention in June 2022, the National Chairman of the party, Senator Abdullahi Adamu had presented the Senate President, Ahmad Lawan as the consensus candidate of the party but governors on the platform from the North kicked against it in the sense that it would be unfair for power to remain in the north.They met the president and insisted on party primary for all aspirants seeking the office of president.
At the end of the convention, Tinubu was declared winner while Lawan, the preferred aspirant came fourth.
