Minister reacts to el-RufaI’s allegation that forces are working against Tinubu within the presidential villa – WorldStage

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WorldStage Newsonline– Nigerian Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, has dismissed the allegation that some within the Presidential Villa in Abuja are working against the success of the All Progressives Congress presidential candidate (APC), Bola Tinubu, in the next general election. elections.

Mohammed, who was responding to questions from State House correspondents on Wednesday in Abuja, said President Muhammadu Buhari would not waver in his pledge to ensure free, fair and credible general elections.

The Minister was responding to Kaduna State Governor Nasir el-Rufai’s claim that some elements of the presidential villa are working against Tinubu.

el-Rufai made the allegation on Channels Television’s breakfast program Sunrise Daily on Wednesday, citing the issue of oil subsidies and the Naira overhaul policy targeting Tinubu.

He said: I believe there are elements in Villa who want us to lose the election because they failed; 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 oil subsidy, which is costing the country trillions of naira, was something that we all agreed would be removed.

Tinubu had made a similar allegation, accusing the opposition PDP and other elements of hoarding fuel and new Naira notes for political purposes.

However, according to Lai Mohammed, if there are elements within the seat of power working against the victory of the ruling party, it has not been officially brought to his attention.

He said Buhari, being the main occupier of the Villa, had repeatedly stressed that his administration would deliver a credible electoral exercise in February and March.

He said: On a more serious note, one thing I can assure you is that come what may, 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 word and deed that he is committed to free, fair and credible elections.

And fair, free and credible elections actually mean favoring no one or disadvantaging no one.

And everywhere he goes he says it very clearly, even last Friday when he was in Daura he said the same thing.

If there is someone working against a candidate, we don’t know officially.

In Transparency International’s Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) 2021 ranking, which saw Nigeria fall five places, the minister said:

We don’t fight corruption because we want to impress Transparency International or any organization.

We fight corruption because we believe that if we don’t fight corruption, there will be no economic or even political growth.

Therefore, what we do and what we put in place to fight corruption is not because we want to be rated by anyone.

If, for example, what we were doing catches the eye of Transparency International and they improve and give us better grades, great and go for it. However, I can assure you that we don’t know which model TI uses.

Whatever model they use, they clearly ignore what this administration is doing to fight corruption.

The fight against corruption is not limited to the number of people arrested? How many people have you tried? How many people have you convicted?

Of course, even in this regard, we have a very impressive record. Is it the EFCC or is it the ICPC?

The minister disclosed that the Buhari administration has put in place measures to control corrupt practices among civil and public office holders.

You see, if you look at what you even do to make corrupt practices almost impossible or difficult, I’ll just give you two examples.

For example, this administration, when funds were returned from Abacha’s loot and other funds were recovered in the United States, United Kingdom and Europe, what this administration did was rather Instead of paying these funds into the treasury and facing the possibility of them being stolen or being looted, the administration decided to put this money in a separate account.

He revealed that the National Sovereign Investment Fund was mandated to manage these funds and use them for specific projects.

And some of our legacy projects today are actually funded by our money that was stolen, returned to us, and kept.

For me, this is an example of how to fight corruption. An example of how to ensure that people no longer steal what has been salvaged.

I am bold to say that we have been more proactive in the fight against corruption and people do not want to see what we have put in place to fight corruption.

And that’s why I gave this example of putting money aside and how those funds are used.

Again, the courage of this administration, even to expose senior administration officials who have broken the law, is proof of our determination and courage to fight corruption.

So we’re not really worried or bothered by TI’s rating, because we know that all we’re doing is making sure we’re fighting corruption in the best possible way.

Mohammed argued that the federal government is not fighting corruption to impress Transparency International.

Like I said, if TI doesn’t see this, again, I think they need to change their model. But again, let’s not fight corruption to impress them.

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