El-Rufai: Some Presidency officials working against Tinubu’s victory on February 25

Governor Nasir El-Rufai of Kaduna State has accused some presidency officials of working against the interests of President Muhammadu Buhari and the presidential candidate of All Progressives Progressives (APC), Asiwaju Bola Tinubu.

El-Rufai also declared that the “elements” in Aso Rock are working against Tinubu’s victory during the February 25 election.
El-Rufai, who spoke on a Channels Television breakfast programme, Sunrise Daily, explained that the persons in question were aggrieved that Tinubu defeated their candidate in the June 2022 APC presidential primary.

He cited the naira redesign policy as one of several schemes targetted at the APC presidential candidate, Tinubu, who also made a similar claim a week earlier.
Said El-Rufai, “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 should be removed.
“In fact, I discussed 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 (Head of State).
“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”.