Abuja—In an interview on Channels TV’s Sunrise Daily programme on Wednesday, Nasir El-Rufai, the Kaduna State Governor and member of the Bola Ahmed Tinubu Presidential Campaign Council (APC-PCC), said that there were some elements in Nigeria’s presidential villa working against the ambition of the party’s flag bearer.
The governor alleged that some elements in Aso Rock, having lost out in the primaries, were working hard to frustrate Tinubu.
The former FCT minister accused them of hiding behind the president’s “desire to do what he thinks is right.”
He 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 subsidies?
“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.”
Speaking on the naira redesign, El Rufai averred that “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 Buhari’s first outing as president.
“He did it; the Buhari-Idiagbon regime changed our currency in secret in order to catch those who were stashing illicit funds. It is a very good intention.
“The president has his rights. But doing it at this time within the allotted time does not make any political or economic sense.”
