Victor EzejaKaduna State Governor, Nasir El-Rufai, has alleged that some people in Aso Rock Villa are working to make the All Progressives Congress presidential candidate, Bola Tinubu, lose next month’s election.
El-Rufai, who heads Kaduna State chapter of the APC Campaign Council for the 2023 general election, stated this on Wednesday while appearing on Channels Television Sunrise Daily.
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. I think they are still trying to get us to lose the election, and they are hiding behind the president’s desire to do what he thinks is right.”
He further stated that those rocking the boat of Tinubu’s presidential bid are the people who fielded candidates that were defeated by the APC presidential flag bearer during the primary election.
On ways he thinks they are trying to achieve that, the Kaduna governor cited on one hand, the raging fuel scarcity and the subsidy which has made the Federal Government spend trillions of naira and on the other hand, the naira redesign policy of the Central Bank of Nigeria.
Although he agreed that the naira redesign policy is good in checking illicit cash hoarding and transactions, he, however, said the timing was wrong.
His words: “They are 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 subsidy? This was a conversation I had with the president in 2021 when the subsidy thing started rising. He was convinced. We left, and it changed. Everyone in the government agreed, 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.”
He said the state governors ought to be involved in the naira redesign programme as sub-nationals to make their inputs given the peculiarities of challenges in their respective states.
Recall that Tinubu had during APC presidential rally in Abeokuta last week, alleged that some “powers that be” are working to sabotage his chances in the 2023 general election by using the fuel crisis and the new naira notes scarcity as instruments to achieve that.
READ ALSO: Fuel Scarcity, Naira Redesign Crisis Are Ploy To Block My Chances In Election – Tinubu
With the reactions that greeted the comment, Tinubu and his supporters later came out to explain that what he meant was that the fuel crisis and the new naira notes scarcity causing hardship for Nigerians, are negative factors that could scuttle his chances in the poll given that his party, the APC is currently in power.
Victor Ezeja is a passionate journalist with six years of experience writing on economy, politics and energy. He holds a Masters degree in Mass Communication.
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