*Tells Kaduna residents to disobey Buhari, CBN on the issue
*Threatens to deal with individuals, shut businesses rejecting the old N500, N1,000 notes
*Nigerians say he’s hypocritical, selfish, stoking anarchy
The Governor of Kaduna State, Nasir el-Rufai ferociously countered President Muhammadu Buhari on the Naira Redesign policy, Thursday, threatened to seal any facility that refuses to accept the old notes as legal tender and prosecute the owners.
He also threatened to take further consequential actions against the owners of such businesses.
El-Rufai in a broadcast later Thursday titled: “Let us stand up strongly for democracy, peace and national unity”, accused Buhari, the Central Bank Governor, Godwin Emefiele and the opposition political parties of plotting to impose an Interim Government through the policy.
Although he claimed in the broadcast that he was pursuing a lawful means to resolve the hardships imposed by the naira redesign, he said, “let no artificial and illegal deadline frighten you”.
El-Rufai assured that “none of you would lose the money you have in old notes,” adding, “whether you live in towns, villages or in our isolated rural communities, do not feel stampeded to deposit your old notes in the banks. Hold on to them. Continue to use them as legal tender as ordered by the Supreme Court of Nigeria.
“No deadline can render them worthless, ever. The law is on your side. Let us stay calm and peaceful, and support the lawful means being utilised to solve our problems”.
Stressing that Buhari’s actions remained illegal and unlawful, the Kaduna State Governor added: “The Central Bank of Nigeria Act, 2007 and the Bills of Exchange Act, both oblige the CBN to recognise your old notes and give you value in new notes whenever you bring them to the CBN, even in the next 100 years.
“Therefore, as your governor, I wish to assure you that the Kaduna State Government, in collaboration with elected legislators, traditional institution, elected local government councils, markets, and traders associations will help you collect, record, document, collate and deliver all your old notes to the Kaduna branch of the Central Bank on your behalf into the new ones immediately after the elections.
“We will also ensure the delivery of your new notes to your various locations without any hardship or expense on your part.
“We shall save you any panic and the stress of a long journey from your community to the CBN office in our state capital, from March until December 2023 if need be.
“For the avoidance of doubt, all the old and new notes shall remain in use as legal tender in Kaduna State until the Supreme Court of Nigeria decides otherwise.
“I therefore appeal to all residents of Kaduna State to continue to use the old and new notes side by side without any fear”.
He said he decided to make the broadcast “due to the unprecedentedly cruel situation our people and their livelihoods have been thrown into, particularly in the last two to three weeks by the decisions, actions and inactions of the Federal Government of Nigeria.
“On behalf of the government of Kaduna State, I wish to express my deepest regret at the needless suffering you are enduring as a result of the prolonged fuel shortage and the difficulties occasioned by the so-called “currency redesign” policy of the Central Bank of Nigeria.
“We understand your pain. I assure you that as your State Governor, I have been working with my other colleagues to do everything in our power to end these pains”.
He added that “while publicly supporting what appeared to be a beneficial policy, we innocently engaged privately with the President and the leadership of the Central Bank of Nigeria to review the implementation of the policy so as to reduce its negative impact on the lives and livelihoods of our people, and end the pain being inflicted on citizens. “In the absence of any progress to modify implementation on the part of the architects, we were forced to go public about two weeks ago, with our concerns and demand that this suffering must stop.
“We take seriously our duty to protect ordinary people from the consequences of these policy fiascos.
“The sad fact is that the victims of these mindless policies are the people that elected us. It is their welfare that is being threatened.
“Many of our people have been left in a situation where the money they put in banks has literally been confiscated, depriving them of the ability to buy food and basic necessities.
“Our traders cannot sell as much as they used to because their customers have no access to their hard-earned money”.
According to el-Rufai, “we have been officially informed that the currency redesign policy is to reduce money laundering and render useless stashes of high denomination Naira that many politicians and public officers have accumulated through corruption and other illicit activities.
“As earlier stated, we are fully in support of such a policy and we made this public from the beginning.
“We had privately expressed concerns about the timing of the currency design policy and the unrealistic timeline for its implementation.
“We were assured that all steps have been taken to ensure that we avoid the recent experience of India, where implementation of a similar demonetisation policy targeted at politicians ended up hurting the poorest and small businesses the most.
“In official briefings to the President, the Central Bank of Nigeria constantly alluded to the fact that the policy also targets politicians who have accumulated a huge war chest for vote buying during the elections.
“It is now clear that the President has been deceived by the Central Bank of Nigeria and some elements in his government into buying into this overarching narrative, in the name of ensuring free and fair elections in 2023.
“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”.
However, Nigerians reacting, warned of dire consequences of the broadcast, saying it is capable of stoking violence across the country.
They reminded him that it was the height of lawlessness to address the people in the manner he did rather than take up the issues with President Buhari, since he has unfettered access to him, while pursuing the legal process to its logical conclusion.
“Can I remind el-Rufai that when ASUU embarked on strike for non-payment of their salary, he did nothing. He didn’t see that as action against the ordinary Nigerians,” Abubakar Hamisu said.
“Now there is a policy that affected gin along side other people, he rose up pretending to be the moral compass of the people. This is sheer hypocrisy.
“El-Rufai must understand that if there is violence in any part of the country after this broadcast, he is solely responsible for that,” Olugbenga Otitoju said.
“Let him also know that what he said amounted to treason and in other climes, he will be locked up somewhere until he purges himself of this militant tendencies,” Yahaya Abubakar stated.
Others ask President Buhari to immediately deploy his strength and cut the likes of el-Rufai to size.
