Naira redesign: El-Rufai, APC Governors desperate to buy votes in 2023 – CNPP

By Ikechukwu Okaforadi

Conference Of Nigeria Political Parties (CNPP) has called on Nigerians not to fall for ‘antics’ of the Governors of the All Progressives Congress (APC), saying they are not fighting for the wellbeing of the people.
CNPP, in a statement issued yesterday by the National Secretary, Willy Ezeugwu, said “opposing APC leaders are attacking President Muhammadu Buhari and the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Governor Godwin Emefiele because they are desperate to buy votes knowing that APC has failed.”
Asking President Buhari to call Nasir El-Rufai of Kaduna State to order “for declaring Kaduna State a sovereign by ordering the residents to continue to recognise old N500 and N1,000 banknotes as legal tender contrary to presidential directives”.
CNPP therefore urged Nigerians in Kaduna and elsewhere to ignore Governor El-Rufai for their own good, as only CBN can issue directives on legal tender in Nigeria on behalf of the President.
It also reiterated its call on the CBN to set up modalities for swapping old Naira notes for the Nigerian masses who may have been deceived by the APC Governors to keep their cash until the expiration of the naira swap deadline.
The CNPP noted that the presidential directive on temporary recirculation of old 200 naira notes as legal tender until April 10 was commendable in view of the obvious sabotage of the distribution of the redesigned naira notes by unpatriotic politicians conniving with commercial banks.
“Unpatriotic politicians who cannot win elections without vote buying are bent on stockpiling the new naira notes in their desperation to rig the 2023 general elections. This is the real reason for the cash crunch in Nigeria.
“For us, President Muhammadu Buhari would be declared a 2023 hero of democracy, and his administration’s many failures forgiven, if he sees through a free, fair, and credible 2023 general elections.
“We urge Nigerians not to allow themselves to be deceived by the APC Governors who never took the Federal Government to court over police brutality (which culminated in the #EndSARS protests).
“Nigerians have experienced uncountable lose of lives and property as a result of insecurity, the pains of the perennial fuel scarcity and many other failed policies of the APC-led federal government but the APC Governors never made a statement but they were quick to drag the federal government to the Supreme Court for implementing its own cashless policy because of obvious vote buying agenda of the party.
“The CNPP will continue to stand on the side of the masses on the naira redesign policy which is part of Nigeria’s cashless policy implementation because of the overall benefits of the policy in the long run. A stable economy and better life for the average Nigerian in the future is worth the sacrifices and the temporary pains.