• Kaduna governor: naira redesign ill-timed, retaining subsidy payment shocking’
  • Villa not aware, says Fed Govt
  • APC PCC: Buhari backing Tinubu

There are powerful forces working against the political interests of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Kaduna State Governor Nasir El-Rufai alleged yesterday.

He claimed that certain unnamed individuals in the presidency do not want APC presidential standard bearer Asiwaju Bola Tinubu to win the February 25 poll.

Their grouse, he said, is that their preferred candidate did win the party’s primaries.

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

The wife of President Muhammadu Buhari, Aisha, appeared to agree with the governor.

She uploaded a clip of El-Rufai’s interview on her Instagram account, captioning the post: “#longlivethefederalrepublicofnigeria”.

But, Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, said the Federal Government was not aware of saboteurs in the presidency.

The APC Presidential Campaign Council (APC PCC) said Tinubu retained President Buhari’s unalloyed support, insisting that his backing overrides any subversive elements in the Villa.

Also, the Kaduna governor said: “Let me assure you hundred per cent, the entire Northern governors of the APC are completely, wholeheartedly supporting the next president, Bola Tinubu.”

According to El-Rufai, those working against the APC were embittered by the fact that their favoured candidate did not emerge as the presidential flagbearer.

He said: “They had their candidate; their candidate didn’t win the primaries.

“I think 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.”

The Kaduna governor cited the retention of the fuel subsidy and the naira redesign policy as instances of decisions taken without recourse to the party.

He said: “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.

“How can you have a capital budget of N200 billion for federal roads and then spend N2trillion 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 stashing away illicit funds.

“It’s a very good intention – very clear intention. The President’s heart is white.

“But, doing it at this time, within the time allotted, just doesn’t make any political or economic sense.

“And for such a programme to work, we have to be involved as governors, as sub-nationals.”

The governor added: “We totally support the redesign of the Naira. We know that there are politicians who have stashes of money, but in the process, we must not make the ordinary people suffer or ignite the anger of voters and make it look as if it is our party’s policy. It is not. It is the policy of a few people.”

El-Rufai emphasised that the APC did not promise to retain the petrol subsidy.

He thinks the President retained the subsidy because he believed its removal would adversely affect Nigerians.

“The problem is not the APC government but the people of Nigeria who are not willing to face the truth.

“People are paying N300 to N500 per litre in part of the country and they have to queue for hours to get this all because of this unsustainable and broken-down subsidy regime that we have chosen to maintain for the past 50 years. It has not worked.

“It is not an APC problem. It is a Nigerian problem because today if President Buhari says ‘remove subsidy’, the NLC (Nigeria Labour Congress) will be out on the street protesting. We have had that anytime the price slightly increases.

“It is a national conversation. The presidential candidates, including Atiku Abubakar, Peter Obi, and Bola Tinubu have said they will remove the fuel subsidies.

“They have to, otherwise the country will go bankrupt. The next government must remove it otherwise the country will collapse.

“This fuel subsidy requires a national conversation. It is not a partisan thing. It has been going on for years.

“We tried to solve it under the Buhari administration but we were sabotaged and we are where we are.

“To be honest, we have had the conversation at the level of the National Economic Council chaired by the Vice President and we all agreed it should go.

“It was President Buhari himself who took the decision that this subsidy will hurt the poor and he won’t do it.

“That is why our presidential candidate in the same party is saying he will remove it. It is not a party position but the personal position of the president.

“We (APC) didn’t promise that we were going to keep the fuel subsidy or redesign the currency. It isn’t in our manifesto.

“You need to separate the personal decisions of some people in the villa from the manifesto of the party. It is important to understand that.”

The governor added: “The policy of currency redesign is the idea of few people in the Presidential Villa. APC never promised a naira redesign.

“This is not the right time to embark on such an exercise because most areas in Nigeria have no banking facilities.

“I must say that the naira redesign and fuel scarcity are the handiwork of fifth columnists because they want to bring the country down.

“Otherwise, why must redesigning of naira be the priority of the Federal Government at this time?”

Fed Govt not aware of saboteurs in presidency

Mohammed said the Federal Government was unaware of the “elements” working to sabotage the APC’s winning chances.

According to him, President Buhari was primarily concerned about guaranteeing a free and fair poll.

“This administration is focused and determined to ensure a free and fair election.

“In this administration, the most important person is Mr. President and I think he has shown by words and by deeds that he’s committed to a free, fair and credible election.

“Fair, free and credible election actually mean not favouring anybody or disadvantaging anybody.

“Everywhere he goes, he makes that very clear. Even as recently as Friday when he was in Daura, he said the same thing.

“So, if there’s anybody who’s working against any candidate, we don’t know officially,” the minister said.

El-Rufai stated the obvious, says APC PCC

The APC PCC said while it was confident about President Buhari’s support, it was not surprising that some persons in his administration may not share his views.

The council’s Special Adviser on Media, Communications and Public Affairs, Dele Alake, maintained that El-Rufai was only stating the obvious.

To him, what mattered most to the campaign council and to the flagbearer was the “unambiguous support” of President Buhari, who he stressed held the aces in the Villa.

Alake told reporters: “As a campaign council, it is very simple. There’s really nothing spectacular about what El-Rufai has said.

“It’s self-explanatory. He did say ‘some people’, but he never said ‘the President’.

“In any organisation, including your own individual media houses, you have editorial policies, and there are elements within your organisations that won’t agree with those policies. Yet, they still work there.

“It is, therefore, not a spectacular thing. It is merely a natural phenomenon.

“In all organisations and institutions, you cannot have 100 per cent of the operatives see issues exactly the same way.

“However, it is the preponderance of views that matter. Now, in terms of the presidency, who is the power base?

“Of course, it is the Commander-in-Chief. He holds all the aces. We do not expect that he would actually see all his staff eye to eye. But they’re still there.”

Tinubu had claimed during a rally in Ogun State that the lingering petrol scarcity and the naira scarcity were created by fifth columnists to turn Nigerians against the ruling party.

Cash-strapped Nigerians have been toiling to withdraw money from Automatic Teller Machines (ATMs) across the country.

Banks have stopped issuing the old notes, which will cease to be legal tender on February 10, but the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has said Nigerians would not lose money after the deadline.