The Kaduna State Governor, Nasir El-Rufai, on Thursday alleged that the current naira and fuel scarcity was a plot by some individuals to foist an interim government on the country.
The governor, who stated this in a statewide broadcast in Kaduna, added that the naira scarcity was orchestrated by enemies of the country to cause the defeat of the All Progressives Congress (APC) presidential candidate, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, in the February 25 election.
The governor had a few weeks ago accused some elements in the presidential villa of working against the success of the former Lagos State governor in the election.
El-Rufai, who spoke on a Channels Television’s programme, Sunrise Daily, said the individuals in question were bitter that their candidates lost out in the June 8, 2022, primary election that produced Tinubu as the APC presidential candidate.
In Thursday’s broadcast, the governor argued the plot to deny the APC candidate victory was hatched after his victory in the party’s presidential primary.
He added that those behind the plot had concluded plans to deprive Nigerians of food and other necessities in a bid to force mass protests, violence, and breakdown of law and order that would lead to a military takeover of government or imposition of an ING headed by a retired army general.
The pan-Yoruba socio-political organization, Afenifere, had on Monday expressed fear that the naira and fuel scarcity was planned by dark forces in a bid to impose an unconstitutional government on the country.
El-Rufai said: “It is important for the people of Kaduna State, and indeed Nigeria, to know that contrary to the public pronouncements and apparent good intentions, this policy was conceived and sold to the President by officials who completely lost out in the Gubernatorial and Presidential Primaries of the APC in June 2022.
“Once Asiwaju Bola Tinubu emerged as the candidate in June 2022, and subsequently did not pick one of them as his running mate, this currency redesign policy was conceived to ensure that the APC presidential candidate is deprived of what they alleged is a humongous war chest.
“They also sought to achieve any one or more of the following objectives: Create a nationwide shortage of cash so that citizens are incited to vote against APC candidates across the board resulting in massive losses for the Party in all the elections.
“Ensure that the cash crunch is so serious, along with the contrived and enduring fuel shortage existing since September 2022, that the 2023 elections do not hold at all, leading to an interim national government to be led by a retired army general.”