Governor Nasir el-Rufai of Kaduna State said yesterday that some elements in the Presidency were working assiduously to ensure the failure of the All Progressives Congress, APC, in ths month’s presidential elections.

He also said the same forces were responsible for the current crisis created by the petrol subsidy, which is making the country waste over N6 trillion annually.

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But the Federal Government in a swift reaction yesterday, said it is not aware of any element working against the ruling party, insisting that President Muhammadu Buhari is committed to ensuring that the forthcoming elections are free, fair and credible and wil not favour any presidential candidate.

But speaking in an interview on Channels Television’s breakfast programme, Sunrise Daily, Governor el-Rufai said most of those working against APC’s chances in the presidential election are not even members of the party.

He said they are embittered because their preferred candidate didn’t win the party’s presidential ticket.

The governor said: “Nigerians should stick with the APC because they should see what we have been able to achieve in the last eight years in very difficult circumstances.

’We were sabotaged on subsidy’

“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, NEC, chaired by the vice president and we all agreed it should go, it was Buhari himself that 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.

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“For the past three to four years, I have stopped trying to understand how the Federal Government works. I just focus on trying to make my state work because that is my primary responsibility.

‘We didn’t promise subsidy, Naira re-design’

“There are some things we sit and agreed with the president to get done and it doesn’t get done. And those that refused to get it done don’t get punished.

“If you were at our party, we didn’t promise that we were going to keep 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.

“Most of the people in the villa are not members of our party. I believe there are elements in the villa that want us to lose the election because they didn’t have their way.

“They had their candidates, and their candidates didn’t win the primaries and 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.”

Speaking further on fuel subsidy, Governor el-Rufai said: “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 parts of the country and they have to queue for hours to get fuel 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 Nigeria problem because today, if President Buhari said remove subsidy, the NLC will be out on the streets protesting. We have had that anytime the price slightly increases.

‘Next govt must remove subsidy, or else…’

“It is a national conversation. The presidential candidates, including Atiku Abubakar, Peter Obi, and Bola Tinubu have said they will remove fuel subsidy. They have to, unless 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 Buhari himself that 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.

“If you were at our party, we 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.

‘’These elements 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.

‘Don’t blame CBN gov on Naira re-design’

“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 military head of state. 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.”

Denies knowledge of presidency official working against APC

Replying the Kaduna governor yesterday, the Federal Government denied knowledge of Presidency officials working against the APC in the forthcoming presidential election, insisting that President Muhammadu Buhari is committed to ensuring that the forthcoming elections in the country are free, fair and credible and will not favour any presidential candidate.

The government also dismissed Transparency International’s, TI, report that placed Nigeria on 150 on the Corruption Perception Index ranking from the previous 154 out of 180 countries.

The Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, while fielding questions from State House correspondents at the end of the Federal Executive Council, FEC, meeting on the claims by Governor el-Rufai, maintained that President Buhari, being the main occupant of the presidential villa, had stressed severally that he wanted his administration to deliver a credible exercise.

The Minister said if there are elements within the seat of power working against the victory of the ruling party, it had not been brought officially to his notice.

He said: “On a more serious note, one thing I can assure you is that no matter what, this administration is focused, determined to ensure free and fair elections.

“But I think with this administration, the most important person is Mr President, and I think he has shown by words and deeds that he is committed to a free, fair and credible election. And fair, free, credible elections actually mean not favouring anybody or disadvantaging anybody.

“Everywhere he goes, he makes that very clear, even as recently as last Friday when he was in Daura (Katsina State), he said the same thing. If there’s anybody working against a candidate, we don’t know officially.”

Also responding to the latest ranking of Nigeria dropping from 154 to 150 out of 180 countries by the Transparency International on Corruption Perception Index ranking, the Information Minister said maybe TI was using a template that was oblivious of the war against corruption in the country.

He said: “We are not fighting corruption because we want to impress Transparency International or any organization whatsoever.

“We’re fighting corruption because we believe if we do not fight corruption, there’ll be no growth, either in terms of the economy or even political. Therefore, what we do and what we’re putting in place to fight corruption is not because we want to be rated by anybody.

“If, for instance, what we’re doing catches the attention of Transparency International and they improve and give us better marks, we’ll go. However, I can assure you that we do not know what template TI is using.

“Whatever template they’re using is clearly oblivious of what this administration is doing, to fight corruption.

“Corruption fighting is not just by how many people have you arrested? How many people have you tried? How many people have you convicted? Of course, even in that respect, we have a very impressive record. Is it the EFCC or is it the ICPC?

“You see, if you look at what we’re doing, even to make corrupt practices, almost impossible or difficult.

‘’I’ll just give you two examples. For instance, this administration, when funds were returned from the Abacha loot and other funds were recovered from the USA, the UK and Europe, what this administration did was that rather than pay these funds into the treasury and face the possibility of it being stolen or relooted, the administration decided that we will put this money into a separate account and ask the National Sovereign Investment Fund to manage these funds, and we used the money for specific projects.

“Some of our legacy projects today actually are being financed from our money that have been stolen, which were returned and which we have kept. To me, this is one example of how to fight corruption, an example of how to ensure that people do not steal what has been recovered again.

“I make bold to say that we have been more proactive in fighting corruption and people are not willing to see what we have put in place in fighting corruption. And that’s why I gave that example of putting money aside and how those funds are being used.

“Again, the courage of this administration even to expose high ranking officials of the administration who have run foul of the law, is evidence of our determination and courage to fight corruption.

“So, we are not really worried or bothered about rating of the TI, because we know that everything we do is to ensure that we fight corruption the best way we know how to do.

“Like I said, if TI is not seeing this, then again, I think they have to change their template. But again, we’re not fighting corruption to impress them.”

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