The camp of former Vice President and presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar, has said the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) is fully responsible for the crisis rocking the nation over fuel and new naira notes scarcity.

Atiku’s camp was reacting to comments credited to Governor Nasir El-Rufai of Kaduna State where he accused the former Vice President of taking advantage of the chaos the scramble for the new notes has caused across the country.

While stressing that the All Progressives Congress was not against the cashless policy, the governor argued for extension of time to enable the citizens to lodge their money in the banks.

He told TVC that PDP presidential candidate is attempting to gain sympathy votes over the naira note crisis.

Reacting in a statement obtained by Naija News, Atiku’s Special Assistant on Public Communication, Phrank Shaibu described El-Rufai’s comment as a low point in the profile of the self-acclaimed “Accidental Civil Servant” governor.

He said: “At a point when the masses of Nigeria are groaning under the weight of the currency crunch, it remains inglorious that the Kaduna State governor would, rather than sympathize with the masses, prefer to go on political entanglement over the issue.

“For the avoidance of doubt, the currency crisis (and indeed all other crises), as it stands today, is a mess created by the APC and it will be imprudent of the Kaduna State governor or anyone else to associate the PDP or its presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar with the crisis.

“It is curious why Governor el-Rufai and other elements of his ilk in the APC had to wait this long before they found it contingent to speak in disapproval of policies initiated by their own political party. Perhaps, it is because for them, self-interest in an election season is more important than public interest.”

Shaibu said the lingering fuel scarcity and, indeed, the currency crisis of which el-Rufai so bitterly complained about did not just start today.

According to him, major cities across the country, Nigerians have been contending with the problem of fuel scarcity for almost two years in some places like the Federal Capital Territory, while El-Rufai and others crying foul in the APC turned blind eyes to the plight of Nigerians.

He stated that Atiku Abubakar and the PDP have persistently brought the attention of the country to the sufferings of Nigerians by the APC administration in the past almost eight years, adding that Tinubu has never come out in defense of the people against the hardship that the APC has subjected the country to since it took power in 2015.

Atiku’s aide said: “The APC and their presidential candidate are crying foul to the currency change policy because they fear the policy will frustrate their plan to take advantage of the impoverishment of Nigerians by the APC through vote buying, a situation that has already commenced, in the 2023 election.

“Of course, the ordinary masses of Nigeria can not stand up to the evil plans of the APC, but that is where Atiku comes in as the bulwark of anti-democratic forces.

“Atiku loves the people of Nigeria, and he has sufficiently demonstrated his love even at times when it was risky to do so. What Atiku hates, on the other hand, are politicians whose only intention is to compromise the electoral process through monetary inducement.

“We know those politicians who hate Nigeirans. They are those who keep stacks of money at home and in bullion vans to buy votes. They are the ones who, the once upright Mallam el-Rufai comes to the open to defend, and they are the ones who are afraid of the currency change policy.”