Kaduna State Governor, Nasir El-Rufai, alleged in a state broadcast on Thursday that the current scarcity of naira notes was part of a plot to disrupt the forthcoming general elections and to ensure that an interim government takes over.
El-Rufai stated that the policy to redesign the currency was conceived by officials who had lost out in the gubernatorial and presidential primaries of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) in June 2022. He claimed that the officials sought to ensure that the APC's presidential candidate, Bola Tinubu, and other candidates of the party lost the elections.
According to El-Rufai, the officials convinced the President that it was acceptable for ordinary citizens to be dispossessed of their hard-earned money and starved while small and medium-sized businesses were deprived of access to their capital, bringing trade and exchange to a grinding halt.
El-Rufai added that all efforts by state governors to modify the implementation of the policy to avoid unintended consequences were unsuccessful.
The governor also faulted the position of the President on the matter and said that there was no reason why the old and new notes should not coexist until the old notes are gradually withdrawn over the years, as is done in other countries.
He said, “It is important for the people of Kaduna State, and indeed Nigeria, to know that contrary to the public pronouncements and apparent good intentions, this policy was conceived and sold to the President by officials who completely lost out in the gubernatorial and presidential primaries of the APC in June 2022.
“Once Asiwaju Bola Tinubu emerged as the candidate in June 2022 and subsequently did not pick one of them as his running mate, this currency redesign policy was conceived to ensure that the APC presidential candidate is deprived of what they alleged is a humongous war chest.
“They also sought to achieve any one or more of the following objectives: create a nationwide shortage of cash so that citizens are incited to vote against APC candidates across the board resulting in massive losses for the party in all the elections; ensure that the cash crunch is so serious, along with the contrived and enduring fuel shortage existing since September 2022, that the 2023 elections do not hold at all, leading to an Interim National Government to be led by a retired Army General; sustain the climate of shortage of fuel, food and other necessities, leading to mass protests, violence and breakdown of law and order that would provide a fertile foundation for a military take-over.”
“Within two to three weeks of implementation, it was clear to everyone that the architects of this policy can see that it is our people that are being affected and not the politicians. It is quite unfortunate that many politicians who either own banks or have privileged access to money are so insulated from the pains of talakawa that they are recklessly endorsing a policy that is being badly implemented.”
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