UPDATED: Presidential Election: Buhari not favouring anybody, Lai Mohammed replies El-Rufai over Tinubu’s candidacy

President Muhammadu Buhari is not favouring any presidential candidate and is instead committed to a free and fair election, information minister Lai Mohammed said Wednesday.

Mr Mohammmed spoke in Abuja at the end of the Federal Executive Council meeting.

The minister was responding to a journalist who asked him to respond to the claim by the Kaduna State Governor, Nasir El-Rufai, that some officials at the Presidency did not want Bola Tinubu, the candidate of the ruling party, to win this month’s presidential election.

“One thing I can assure you is that no matter what, 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 words and indeed that he is dedicated to free, fair and credible election,” he said.

“And fair, free, credible elections actually means not favouring anybody, not ‘disadvantaging’ anybody. And everywhere he goes he makes that very clear even as recently as Friday when he was in Daura, he said the same thing.”

Mr Mohammed’s explanation appears to contradict previous statements by the presidency that Mr Buhari was committed to supporting Mr Tinubu and other APC candidates in the general elections.

On Wednesday, Mr Mohammed added that he is not aware that anybody in the presidency was working against Mr Tinubu’s interest.

“If there’s anybody working against a candidate, we don’t know officially,” Mr Mohammed said.

PREMIUM TIMES reported the statement by Mr El-Rufai Wednesday morning that some officials of the presidency did not want Mr Tinubu to win the presidential election.

Division in APC

In the past weeks, there has been an increase in bickering within the APC particularly over fuel scarcity and redesigning of the currency.

During a campaign rally in Abeokuta, the Ogun State capital, Mr Tinubu took a swipe at the policy and the scarcity of petroleum products in the country, claiming that the policies may have been targeted at him.

Not a few interpreted it to mean there is a misunderstanding between Mr Buhari and Mr Tinubu, considering the president’s perceived lukewarm attitude to the campaign of the APC flag bearer.

Although, he is the chairperson of the APC Presidential Campaign Council, the president has only attended four of the campaign rallies.

Also, Governor Umar Ganduje, a very close ally of Mr Tinubu, recently wrote a letter to Mr Buhari ahead of his visit to Kano State, informing the president about the disquietness in his state following the naira redesigning.

Mr Buhari subsequently visited Kano after the extension of the deadline for the legality of the old naira notes. There were unconfirmed reports that some angry youths pelted his convoy.

Also, recently, Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, who contested the primaries against Mr Tinubu, was also reported to have said the redesigning of the Nigerian currency would curb “illicit election financing.”

Mr Osinbajo, a former ally of Mr Tinubu, has not joined the campaign train.