Governor Nasir El-Rufai has accused President Muhammadu Buhari’s cabal in the Presidential Villa of plotting their failure of the APC candidate Bola Tinubu in the February 25 election.

“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,” the Kaduna governor and an ally of Mr Tinubu claimed. “Their candidate did not win the primary election. They are still trying to get us (to) lose the elections. They are hiding behind the president’s desire to do what is right.”

Mr El-Rufai disclosed this in an interview with Channels Television Wednesday morning.

“You want to know if we have the names? I believe it is best you ask the governor,” said Mr Buhari’s media aide Garba Shehu when asked for comments on the Kaduna governor’s allegation.

His allegation came a few days after Mr Tinubu accused the Buhari regime of sabotaging his presidential ambition.

Mr Tinubu had, in his Abeokuta rally last week, accused the regime of hoarding fuel and using the so-called naira redesign to sabotage his presidential bid. 

But the former Lagos governor’s aides later claimed Mr Tinubu’s statement in Abeokuta was not targeted at Mr Buhari’s regime. 

Mr Tinubu penultimate Wednesday accused the Buhari administration of using the raging fuel scarcity and recently-introduced naira notes and cash handling policies of the Central Bank of Nigeria to blunt his chances at the ballot box next month.

“You’re hoarding fuel and hoarding the naira. Still, we will vote, and we will win this election. Whether you change the ink of the naira or spend money till you are in debt, things won’t turn out as you hope,” Mr Tinubu had said during a campaign stop in Abeokuta. “We are the ones who will win the election, and our opponents will fail.”