In what has been interpreted as an endorsement of el-Rufai’s opinion, Aisha Buhari uploaded the video clip on Instagram on Wednesday, hours after he spoke on Channels Television.
By Emma Ogbuehi
The claim on Wednesday by the Governor of Kaduna State, Mallam Nasiru el-Rufai that some “elements” in the Presidential Villa are working against the All Progressives Congress (APC) presidential candidate Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, may have put a wedge between Aisha Buhari, the president’s wife and the Federal Government.
While Aisha, a known supporter of Tinubu seemingly ‘endorsed’ el-Rufai’s claim, the Federal Government claimed ignorance of such move.
El-Rufai, who spoke on Channels Television’s Sunrise Daily programme on Wednesday morning said the conspirators in Aso Rock were those whose candidates lost at the party’s presidential primary and are still bitter.
The Kaduna State governor who refused to name the Aso Rock conspirators said they are now hiding behind President Buhari to pursue their interests.
He said: “I believe there are elements in the villa who 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 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.”
In what has been interpreted as an endorsement of el-Rufai’s opinion, Aisha Buhari uploaded the video clip on Instagram on Wednesday, hours after he spoke on Channels Television.
The President’s wife, who also leads Tinubu’s women campaign train, captioned the post: “#longlivethefederalrepublicofnigeria.”
But tte Federal Government has said the Muhammadu Buhari-led administration is officially unaware of the elements within the Presidency, who el-Rufa’i accused of working to sabotage the chances of the APC in the 2023 elections.
Minister of Information and Culture Lai Mohammed, while reacting to a question raised by State House Correspondents on the allegation, said the government, a product of the ruling APC, was unaware of the plot described by el-Rufa’i, saying that what the government was determined to achieve is a free, fair and credible election.
According to him, Buhari is primarily concerned with seeing the elections being credible, not tilted in favour of any particular candidate or against anyone.
“One thing I can assure you is that no matter who, this administration is focused and determined to ensure a free and fair election and I think 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 means not favouring anybody or disadvantaging anybody and 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,” he stated.
