The governor of Kaduna state, Nasir El-Rufai, on Wednesday, February 1, claimed that some elements in the presidential villa are against the president
The governor of Kaduna state, Nasir El-Rufai, on Wednesday, February 1, claimed that some elements in the presidential villa are against the presidential ambition of the All Progressives Congress (APC) flagbearer, Bola Tinubu.
According to El-Rufai, the elements are against Tinubu because their preferred presidential aspirant was defeated during the party’s primary in 2022.
El-Rufai disclosed this during an interview on Wednesday, February 1, Channels TV reports.
The governor also claimed that those people are working to ensure that the ruling party do not win at the polls.
El-Rufai added that said these individual elements are hiding behind President Muhammadu Buhari’s desire to do what he thinks is right.
He said that, “I believe that there are elements in the presidential villa that want us (APC) to lose the election because their preferred candidate failed to win during the party’s primary.
“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. One is the petroleum subsidy, which is costing the country trillions of naira. This 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, but after I left, the president’s stance changed.
“The second example I will give is the recent naira redesign policy by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).
“You have to understand the president. People are blaming the governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) for the currency redesign, but Emefiele is not the one to blame.
“You have to go back and look at the first outing of Buhari as president. During the administration of Idiagbon, he 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.
“If you were at our party, you would know that we didn’t promise that we were going to keep fuel subsidy or redesign the currency. It isn’t in our manifesto.
“You need to separate the personal decisions of some people in the villa from the manifesto of the party. It is important to understand that.
“Most of the people in the villa are not members of our party. I believe there are elements in the villa that want us to lose the election because they didn’t have their way.
“Some of the people in Aso Rock are working against the presidential bid of our candidate, Bola Tinubu.
“They had their candidates, and their candidates didn’t win the primary and I think they are still trying to get us to lose the election.
“These are people who are hiding behind the president’s desire to do what he thinks is right,” he added.
