The Federal Government has dismissed claims made by Kaduna State Governor Nasir El-Rufai, who alleged that certain elements within the Presidential Villa are working against the All Progressives Congress (APC) presidential candidate, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu. Minister of Information Lai Mohammed stated that the government is not “officially aware” of any group in the Presidential Villa undermining the APC’s standard bearer. However, the APC Presidential Campaign Council expressed that it was not surprised by El-Rufai’s comments, suggesting that he was merely stating the obvious.
El-Rufai made these assertions during an appearance on Channels Television’s breakfast show, Sunrise Daily, on Wednesday. His remarks followed a week after Tinubu highlighted the Central Bank of Nigeria’s naira redesign policy and the ongoing fuel crisis as part of efforts to sabotage the upcoming election and his anticipated victory. El-Rufai claimed that the forces opposing the Bola Tinubu/Kashim Shettima ticket are individuals whose preferred candidate lost the APC presidential nomination to Tinubu last year. He stated, “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.”
El-Rufai further elaborated on his concerns, citing the petroleum subsidy as an example of a costly issue that was supposed to be removed. He noted, “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 to catch 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.”
In response to El-Rufai’s allegations, Lai Mohammed addressed journalists after the weekly Federal Executive Council meeting, asserting that President Muhammadu Buhari is not favoring or opposing any presidential candidate ahead of the February 25 election. “If there’s anybody who is working against any candidate, we don’t know officially,” he stated.
Additionally, Dele Alake, the PCC Special Adviser on Media, Communications, and Public Affairs, remarked that El-Rufai’s comments were not groundbreaking. He explained, “There’s nothing spectacular about what El-Rufai has said. And it’s even self-explanatory. He did say that some people, but he never said the President. In any organization, including your own individual media houses, you have editorial policies, and there are elements within your organization that won’t agree with those policies. Yet, they still work there.” Alake emphasized that it is a natural phenomenon for individuals within any organization to have differing opinions, and he dismissed El-Rufai’s comments as something that does not require further clarification. He cautioned that mischief-makers, particularly from the opposition, would likely distort El-Rufai’s words for their own purposes, a tactic that has been characteristic of the current opposition in Nigeria.
Comments are closed for this story.