The governor of Kaduna State, Mallam Nasir el-Rufai, has declared that some forces in the Presidency are working against the success of the presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress, APC, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, in the coming election.
el-Rufai made the declaration on Wednesday on Sunrise Daily, a Channels Television breakfast programme.
His declaration came about a week after Tinubu, during his campaign rally in Abeokuta, Ogun State capital, said that some forces were working hard to frustrate his presidential ambition.
He referred to the protracted fuel scarcity and hoarding of currency as some of the move to that effect.
Speaking in a similar vein on the television programme, el-Rufai said those working against Tinubu were those who felt pained that their candidate was defeated by Tinubu at the All Progressives Congress, APC, primary.
The governor said the persons were hiding behind President Muhammadu Buhari’s desire to do what he thinks is right.
His words: “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 N200 billion 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.”
