Some “elements” in the Presidential Village want ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) presidential candidate Bola Tinubu to lose the February 25 election, Kaduna state governor Nasir El-Rufai said.
El-Rufai, speaking on Channels Television’s Sunrise Daily program Wednesday morning, said those people backed a different challenger in the APC presidential primary, but the challenger did not win the ticket.
The governor said that the unidentified people are now hiding behind President Muhammadu Buhari to pursue their interests.
“I think there are elements in the town that want us to lose the elections because they didn’t get away with it; they had their candidate. Their candidate did not win the primaries.
“They are trying to make us lose the election and they are hiding behind the desire of the president to do what he thinks is right,” he said.
Citing the gasoline subsidy issues and the recent redesign of the naira by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Mr El-Rufai said the president had the right to make the switch to the national currency, but he does not No political or economic change. sense.
“This oil subsidy, which is costing the country trillions of naira, was something we all agreed would be removed. In fact, I had a discussion with the president and I showed him why he had to go.
“Because how can you have a capital budget of N200 billion for federal highways and then spend N2 trillion on oil subsidies? This was a conversation I had with the president in 2021 when the issue of subsidies began to rise. He was convinced. We left. The change. Everyone in the government agreed, and it changed.
“The second example that I will give is this redesign of the currency. You have to understand the president. People blame the governor of the central bank for the redesign of the currency, but no. You have to go back and look at Buhari’s first outing as president.
“He did this; the Buhari regime, Idiagbon changed our currency and he did it secretly in order to catch those who were hiding illicit funds. It is a very good intention. The president has his right. But to do it right now inside of the allotted time does not make any political or economic sense,” El-Rufai said.
While campaigning at a rally in Ogun state last week, Tinubu also said shortages of petrol and new naira notes were aimed at thwarting his presidential bid.
