Governors of the ruling All Progressives Congress APC, will today (Friday) meet with President Muhammadu Buhari in a move to pressurize him into extending the dealine for the new Naira swap.
Kaduna state Governor, Nasir El-Rufai dropped the hint on Thursday night while speaking on Arise TV programme, Prime Time, saying Nigerians, especially those in the rural areas, are facing privation over the scarcity of new Naira notes.
The governor also again accused some elements within the Presidential Villa of working to frustrate Tinubu, calling them “cowards and parasites profiting from the success of Buhari.”
It is expected that the issue would be discussed when the APC governors meet with the president.
However, he declined to name the elements when asked to do so by his interviewer, saying that they would be shamed at the right right, “after Tinubu must have won the election.”
Mallam El-Rufai claimed that the Naira redesign is not an APC policy because, according to him, it is not in the party’s manisfesto. He noted that the policy casts the APC in bad light so close to an election.
The policy was designed by the elements within APC who want the presidential candidate, Bola Tinubu to lose the election, he said.
But recall that the apex bank had in October 2022 announced the new naira notes policy and initially directed that all old notes be swapped on or before the 31st of January, 2023.
However, after much outcry by Nigerians, the deadline was shifted to the 10th of February, 2023.
President Buhari had at least on three occassions made it clear that the Naira redesign has his full backing and it is aimed to forestall vote buying during the forthcoming elections.
Mr. Buhari has also recently stressed that there is no going back on the policy.
What is unclear is why the APC is more affected by the policy that they are crying more than the other parties.
The Kaduna governor dodged the question when he was asked during the programme.
Recall that in during the 2019 elections, it was alleged that bullion vans were sighted at Tinubu’s Lagos residence.
CHECKPOINTCHARLEY 