Information minister, Lai Mohammed, said this while addressing State House correspondents at a briefing after the Federal Executive Council (FEC) on Wednesday.
Nigerian Government has said it is not aware of any persons in the Presidential Villa working against the ambition of the ruling All Progressives Congress candidate in the February presidential election, Bola Tinubu.
Information minister, Lai Mohammed, said this while addressing State House correspondents at a briefing after the Federal Executive Council (FEC) on Wednesday.
Kaduna Governor, Nasir El-Rufai had said some saboteurs in Aso Villa were working against Tinubu because their candidate did not win the party presidential primaries.
Mohammed restated the President’s position that his administration will only focus on ensuring a free fair and credible elections and not favour or cause anyone to be at a disadvantage.
El-Rufai during an interview on Channels TV on Wednesday said the continued payment of fuel subsidy and the recent Naira redesign are not policies of the ruling APC.
However, Mohammed said President Muhammadu Buhari was committed to ensuring free and fair general elections, saying the government does not know officially if anyone in the Presidential Villa is working against Tinubu.
“If there’s anybody who is working against any candidate, we don’t know officially,” the information minister said.
In the interview, El-Rufai said, “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. 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 N200billion 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 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.”