Kaduna State Governor Nasir El-Rufai, on Thursday, dared the Aso Rock “cabals” he recently accused of plotting against the success of the Presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, in the 2023 presidential election.
El-Rufai, in separate interviews, vowed that the identity of those constituting the Aso Rock cabal would soon be unmasked.
The Kaduna governor had on Wednesday stirred the hornet’s nest when he raised the alarm that some persons in Aso Rock were working against Tinubu’s victory in the February 25 presidential election.
Speaking earlier on BBC Hausa Service, El-Rufai said, “Respecting people is not fear, I swear we don’t fear anyone in this country. So, we are not fearful, we’re respectful but if you show us you are not an elder, I swear we will fight you.”
The Kaduna governor later told anchors on the TVC programme, Journalists’ Hangout, on Thursday evening that the cabals operating in the Aso Rock Presidential Villa while dropping President Muhammadu Buhari’s name would soon be unmasked.
According to him, once the APC presidential candidate and other candidates of the ruling party emerge winners in the February general elections, exposing the Aso Rock cabal will be a lot easier.
El-Rufai said, “Once the election is done and settled, by the grace of God in about three weeks, and I’m confident and we are not sleeping, we’re going to work hard until the 27th when all the election results are out and by the grace of God Asiwaju is elected, and our other candidates of the APC, then we unmask them (Aso Rock cabal).”
He, however, said “unmasking them (cabal) is not as joyful as defeating them,” adding that they had been defeated twice in the past “when they wanted their own people in the NWC of the party; we defeated them when they wanted their anointed candidate to be the presidential candidate without due regard, due process or even respect for those of us that are governors, that have slaved for this party together, campaigned for it and deliver the elections twice.
“We didn’t matter, we’re governors with their problems, governors are corrupt, governors are bad, everything is governors. Meanwhile, none of them has contested an election as councillor. And if they did, they won’t win.
“I’ve been elected twice with over a million votes as governor of Kaduna State. I can claim to speak for the people. None of these people (cabal) can. We’ll come to the to the unmasking stage.
“The stage now is to draw the attention of Nigerians that there are elements that are doing this and they don’t mean well for our party. They want to incite voters against our party so that we lose the elections.”
He, however, said Buhari had remained unshaken in his belief that a Southerner should succeed him as president in 2023.
The Kaduna governor said the President took the decision as far back as 2020 and had not changed his mind inspite of the shenanigans of the Aso Rock cabal to thwart this in favour of their own Northern candidate.
He added that Buhari was shocked when he was told before the APC presidential primary that Senate President, Ahmad Lawan was the anointed presidential candidate.
El-Rufai said that the President however said he had no idea about the choice of Lawan.
APC National Chairman, Abdullahi Adamu, had in June 2022, hours before the party’s presidential primary, announced Lawan as the consensus candidate of the ruling party.
This was vehemently resisted and opposed by many of the APC governors.
El-Rufai, however, said on Thursday that Buhari had always been very clear about his position on the choice of a presidential flagbearer for the party.
El-Rufai spoke against the backdrop of his reference to “Villa elements” in the Channels interview.
He had said on Channels Television’s Sunrise Daily programme on Wednesday that persons who backed a different aspirant in the APC presidential primaries are now hiding behind President Buhari to pursue their interests.
He had 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.”
Aisha, wife of the president backed the Kaduna governor over his claim that some elements in the presidency were plotting to sabotage Tinubu’s victory.
Buhari’s wife, who wields great influence in the Villa, voiced her support for El-Rufai when she shared a clip of the interview containing the governor’s main allegation against the saboteurs who are non-members of the party and are exploiting the president’s goodwill for their selfish ends.
Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, however, responded that officially the government was not aware of anyone within the Presidential Villa engaging in such action.
Mohammed said the government had been fair to all candidates regardless of party affiliation and that Buhari had consistently demonstrated that he was for free, fair and credible elections.
