By Enyichukwu Enemanna
Governor of Kaduna State, Nasir El-Rufai has alleged that the bid by the APC’s Mr. Bola Tinubu to succeed Muhammadu Buhari as Nigeria’s President in the Feb. 25 poll is being sabotaged by “elements” in the country’s seat of power, Aso Rock Presidential Villa.
”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 N200b 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”, the former FCT Minister said on Wednesday while featuring on local media breakfast show.
This confirms what analysts have called a cold war between the incumbent President Buhari and the APC presidential candidate.
Mr. Tinubu has in recent times taken a swipe at the leadership of his party the APC, saying the lingering fuel scarcity in the country is targeted at thwarting his effort to win the election.
Also on Tuesday, he said the dwindling value of Naira, the country’s official currency to dollar is an indication of failure of government led by Buhari, leader of the APC.
