Buhari campaigns for Tinubu – Lai Mohammed

Barely 24 hours after reaffirming President Muhammadu Buhari’s intention not to favor or antagonize any presidential candidate in the February presidential election, Information and Culture Minister Lai Mohammed has clarified that the president is campaigning for the All Progressives Congress (APC) standard. carrier, Bola Tinubu.

Speaking at the 22nd session of the President Muhammadu Buhari Scorecard Series in Abuja, he said Wednesday’s remarks on Kaduna State Governor Nasir el-Rufai’s allegation that elements in the presidential villa favored Tinubu’s victory at the poll of countering February 25. , had been misrepresented in some circles.

Mohammed said the president supports the ruling party’s candidate and campaigned for him.

He stated: “Yesterday, while responding to a question at the State House post-FEC briefing, I said, among other things, that Mr. President is committed to free, fair, and credible elections, and that he is doing everything possible to to ensure a level playing field for all participants.

“This comment has been misinterpreted in some circles, especially with regard to Mr. President’s support for our party’s presidential candidate, the All Progressives Congress (APC), Bola Ahmed Tinubu.

“Well, I want to say unequivocally that Mr. President fully supports our party’s standard bearer, and that is borne out by his continued campaigning with the candidate across the country.

“It is ridiculous to even suggest that Mr. President, who is the leader of our party, is ambiguous about his support for our presidential candidate.

“I hope this clears up any ambiguities that may have arisen from my statement yesterday.”

The minister had told correspondents after the Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting at the presidential mansion on Wednesday that Buhari would not deviate from his commitment to ensure free, fair and credible general elections.

Mohammed, who was asked to comment on the governor’s claim, insisted that President Buhari, the main occupant of the villa, had stressed numerous times that he wants his government to deliver a credible exercise.

He stated that if there are elements within the seat of power working against the ruling party’s victory, it has not been officially brought to his attention.

The government spokesman had said, “Worse still, one thing I can assure you is that this government is focused no matter what, determined to ensure free and fair elections.

“But I think in this administration Mr. President is the most important person, and I think he has shown with words and deeds his commitment to free, fair and credible elections. And fair, free, credible elections really mean favoring or disadvantaging anyone.

“And everywhere he goes he makes that very clear, even last Friday when he was in Daura he said the same thing.

“Whether there is someone who works against a candidate, we do not officially know.”

The governor of Kaduna state had made the accusation on Channels Television’s breakfast program Sunrise Daily on Wednesday, citing the issue of the petroleum subsidy and the naira redesign policy against APC presidential candidate, Bola Tinubu, who herself is a made a similar accusation.

el-Rufai 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 make us 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 should be scrapped.

“I even talked to the president and showed him why it had to be done. Because how can you have a capital budget of N200 billion for federal roads and then spend N2 trillion on petroleum subsidies? This was a conversation I had with the president in 2021 when the subsidy thing started to ramp up. He was convinced. We have left. It changed. Everyone in the government agreed, and things changed.

“The second example I will give is this currency redesign. You must understand the president. People blame the Central Bank governor for the currency redesign, but no. You have to go back and watch Buhari’s first appearance as president.

“He did this; the regime of Buhari and Idiagbon changed our currency and did it secretly for the purpose of catching those who stash illicit funds. It’s a very good idea. The president has his right. But to do it within the allotted time right now makes no political or economic sense.”

The Information Minister also scrutinized Transparency International over its latest report, which saw Nigeria drop five places in the 2021 Corruption Perception Index (CPI) ranking.

He explained: “We are not fighting corruption because we want to impress Transparency International or any organization for that matter.

“We fight corruption because we believe that if we don’t fight corruption, there will be no growth in terms of economics or even politics. Therefore, what we do and what we do to fight corruption is not because we want to be judged by anyone.

“For example, if what we do catches the attention of Transparency International and they improve and give us better grades, then we go. However, I can assure you that we don’t know what template TI is using.

“Whatever template they use, they are clearly unaware of what this government is doing to fight corruption.

“Fighting corruption does not just continue how many people have you arrested? How many people have you tried? How many people have you convicted? Of course, we have a very impressive track record even in that regard. Is it the EFCC or is it the ICPC?

You see, if you look at what we do, even to make corrupt practices,
almost impossible or difficult… I’ll give you two examples. For example, when this government got money back from the Abacha looting and took back other funds from the USD, the UK and Europe, what this government did was instead of putting those funds into the Treasury and facing the possibility that it stolen or re-looted, the administration has decided that we will put this money in a segregated account and ask the National Sovereign Investment Fund to manage these funds, and we have used this money for specific projects.

“And some of our legacy projects today are actually funded with our money that was stolen, that was returned and that we kept. To me, this is an example of how to fight corruption. An example of how to make sure people don’t steal what has been found again.

“I dare say we have been more proactive in fighting corruption and people don’t want to see what we have done to fight corruption. And that’s why I gave that example of putting money aside and how that money is used.

“Again, the courage of this administration to expose even high-ranking officials who break the law is a testament to our determination and courage to fight corruption.

“So we’re not really concerned or concerned about the TI’s rating because we know that all we’re doing is making sure we’re fighting corruption the best way we know how.

“Like I said, if TI doesn’t see this, again I think they need to change their template. But again, we are not fighting corruption to impress them.”

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