Governor Nasir El-Rufai of Kaduna State on Wednesday said there are some elements in Aso Rock working hard against the APC presidential candidate Asiwaju Bola Tinubu ahead of February 25 presidential elections.
The governor revealed this on Wednesday on Sunrise Daily, a Channels Television breakfast programme monitored in Abuja.
El-Rufai said these persons working against Tinubu were aggrieved that he defeated their candidate in the APC presidential primaries.
The governor said these elements were hiding behind President Muhammadu Buhari.
This is coming days after Tinubu publicly said in Abeokuta during a campaign rally that the naira redesign and fuel scarcity rocking the country were plots to sabotage his victory at the February elections.
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. 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.”
