Bayo Onanuga, the Special Adviser to President Bola Tinubu on Information and Strategy, has alleged that some officials of the former administration did all manner of things to make sure his principal loses the 2023 elections.
He also alleged that the embattles former Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Godwin Emefiele, worked against Tinubu’s presidential ambition by creating fuel and naira scarcity.
Onanuga said the former APC National Chairman, Abdullahi Adamu, and other party members attempted to scheme Tinubu out of the race by announcing former Senate President Ahmad Lawan as the party’s presidential candidate.
He said the plans were to give the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar, the victory, attributing Tinubu’s election to God’s handiwork.
He said: “A lot of people did not understand what the man went through. Tinubu was the frontrunner in that campaign, and he was under all manner of pressure. He didn’t have the support of some people in his party.
“For instance, the party chairman nearly gave a so-called consensus ticket to Senator Ahmad Lawan. Then, there were fuel scarcity and currency scarcity problems, deliberately thrown on his path by the governing party.
“In my opinion, the election was Atiku’s to win, but God has a way of doing His things. Atiku had the support of some people in our own party, and some even said that he had the support of some people in the Villa.
“The currency change by the masterminds was expected to give Atiku some political windfall. In fact, some people told us that Emefiele was boasting that he knew what to do to make sure Tinubu did not win.
“Even though our candidate is a member of the ruling party, there were all kinds of things that some officials of the former government did that ought to have worked seriously against us.
“Like the sudden currency change in an election year. We’ve been having fuel all over the country, and all of a sudden, we had fuel scarcity.
“The worst of the two was currency change. People were complaining everywhere. There was no money. Some people said they were paying as much as N20,000 to get N100,000. Nigerians were buying their own money. Public resentment built up against the APC and its presidential candidate.”
