On Wednesday, Kaduna Governor, Mallam Nasir el Rufai disclosed that there are some “elements” in Aso Rock working against the Presidential Candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Asiwaju Bola Tinubu.
And without stating her position, but apparently agreeing with him, the wife of the President, Aisha Buhari, on Wednesday, shared a video of Governor Nasir El-Rufai of Kaduna State making the comments.
Earlier on Wednesday, the governor on Channels Television’s Sunrise Daily breakfast programme said the elements in the Villa are bent on APC losing next month’s election because they did not have their way.
“I believe that there are elements in the Villa that want us to lose the elections because they didn’t get their way.
“They had their candidate; their candidate didn’t win the primaries and I think they are still trying to get us to lose the elections and they are hiding behind the President’s desire to do what he thinks is right,” El-Rufai said.
In a swift response, the Minister of Information, Lai Mohammed after the Federal Executive Council (FEC) said the President Muhammadu Buhari administration is focused on ensuring free, fair and credible elections and does not favour or cause anyone to be at a disadvantage.
The President’s wife, in a post on her verified Instagram account, shared the clip of the governor with a simple caption: “#longlivethefederalrepublicofnigeria”
On the programme, the governor said these persons were aggrieved that Tinubu defeated their candidate in the APC presidential primaries.
Tinubu himself appears to be in the know, noting that the fuel scarcity and naira redesign were targeted at him.
el Rufai, without mentioning names, said those against Tinubu are more powerful than all the G5 put together and control critical government agencies.
”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 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.”
There were speculations that powerful forces in the presidency, or close to it, were behind Senate President Ahmad Lawan’s bid for the APC candidacy; but like Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, he lost the bid.
Accusing fingers have also been pointed in the direction of Central Bank of Nigeria Governor, Mr. Godwin Emefiele, without verifiable evidence, that he introduced the cashless policy, with its attendant Naira redesign to undermine Tinubu’s ambition.
The APC candidate had tended to fight back, criticising government policies and programmes; the latest been the crash of the Naira; but his spokespersons quickly rush out reactions to say he was referring to the past administration of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).