Governor Nasir El-Rufai of Kaduna State has dared the Aso Rock “cabals” he believes are opposed to the Presidential ambition of Bola Tinubu, candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) for the 2023 presidential election.

El-Rufai had sparked a controversy on Wednesday when he said some persons in Aso Rock were working against Tinubu.

While responding to a question in a yet to be fully released interview with BBC Hausa, El-Rufai said, “Respecting people is not fear, I swear we don’t fear anyone in this country, so we are not fearful, we are respectful but if you show us you are not an elder, I swear we will fight you.”

The governor’s latest comment was shared on social media ahead of the full release.

El-Rufai spoke in apparent response to the “Villa elements” he referred to in the Channels interview.

When he appeared on Channels Television’s Sunrise Daily programme on Wednesday, El-Rufai said persons who backed a different aspirant in the APC presidential primaries are now hiding behind President Muhammadu Buhari to pursue their interests.

“I believe there are elements in the villa who want us to lose the election because they didn’t get their way; they had their candidate. Their candidate did not win the primaries. “

“They are trying to get us to lose the election, and they are hiding behind the president’s desire to do what he thinks is right,” he had said.

Aisha, wife of the president backed El-Rufa’i over his claim that some elements in the presidency are plotting to sabotage Tinubu’s victory.

The first lady, who wields great influence in the Villa, voiced her support for El-Rufai when she shared a clip of the interview containing the governor’s main allegation against the saboteurs who are non-members of the party and are exploiting the president’s goodwill for their selfish ends.

But Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, responded saying officially, the government was not aware of anyone within the Presidential Villa engaging in such action.

He said the government had been fair to all candidates regardless of party affiliation and that Buhari had consistently demonstrated that he was for free, fair and credible elections.

Daily Trust