El-Rufai: Some people in Aso Rock working against Tinubu

Kaduna State Governor, Nasir El-Rufai, says some government officials at the Presidential Villa in Abuja are working against the presidential candidate of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, ahead of the 2023 general election.

El-Rufai said the people he described as “elements” are working against the APC because their preferred presidential candidate failed to clinch the party’s ticket.

The governor said this on Channels Television programme, Sunrise Daily, on Wednesday.

He said: “I believe there are elements in the Villa that want us to lose the elections because they didn’t get their way.

“They had their candidate and their candidate didn’t win the primaries; they are still trying to get us to lose the elections 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 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,” Governor El-Rufai declared.

The Star