El-Rufai: There are People in Aso Rock Working against Tinubu’s Victory

 Adedayo Akinwale in Abuja

Governor of Kaduna state, Mallam Nasir el-Rufai, has alleged that some elements in Aso Rock Presidential Villa are working against the victory of All Progressives Congress (APC) and its presidential candidate, Bola Tinubu, in this month’s election.

el-Rufai stated this Wednesday while featuring on Sunrise Programme on Channels TV.

The governor stressed that ‘those elements’ had their candidate in the presidential primary , but their candidate didn’t win the primary.

He said against this background, they were working against the ruling party and Tinubu in the forthcoming election.

The governor explained that those elements in the presidency were trying to hide behind the president’s desire to do what is right to scuttle the party’s chances.

el-Rufai noted that the Governor of Central Bank, Godwin Emefiele was not to blame for the Naira redesign.

He recalled that the President did the same as a military Head of State with the aim of catching those that were stashing illicit funds.

 The governor said while the president had his right to redesign the currency, doing it at this time within the allotted time did not make any political or economic sense.

el-Rufai stated: “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.”

Recall that recently, the presidential candidate of the party during the presidential rally of the party in Abeokuta alleged that the decision of the President Muhammadu Buhari-led government to redesign the Naira and also the lingering fuel crisis were designed to scuttle the forthcoming election and his victory.

Though the presidency refused to react to Tinubu’s attack against the Buhari government, the APC Campaign in a statement issued 24 hours after Tinubu’s outburst insisted that the APC presidential candidate did not mention, blame or accuse Buhari for the current challenges in the country.

Also, last week in  Zamfara state during the presidential campaign of the party,  Tinubu assured that he had no friction with the President.