Ganduje accuses CBN governor Emefiele of using naira redesign to frustrate Tinubu

GOVERNOR Abdullahi Ganduje of Kano State has accused the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) governor Godwin Emefiele of intentionally launching the naira redesign programme to frustrate the presidential ambitions of Asiwaju Bola Tinubu.

On November 23 last year, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) launched redesigned ₦‎200, ₦‎500 and ₦‎1000 banknotes, saying the naira was long overdue to wear a new look. Nigerians had been given until January 31 to hand in all old notes, after which time they will cease to be legal tender but the process has been fraught with difficulties, prompting the National Assembly to ask the CBN to extend the deadline.

Under pressure from all angles, CBN chairman Godwin Emefiele announced a new deadline is now February 10. However, the last week has been sheer hell for Nigerians as they have found it impossible to get hold of these new notes and this currency scarcity has created shortages in other areas, with petrol shortages now a chronic problem too.

At commercial banks across the country, there are chaotic scenes as customers queue for hours to get hold of these scarce banknotes. Those that manage to get hold of any money then have to spend hours queuing for fuel and to make things worse, voters who want to participate in this month's elections, when have to go and queue for hours to obtain their permanent voters cards.

Governor Ganduje has lashed out at Mr Emefiele over the debacle, saying the naira redesign programme was never the agenda of the ruling All Progressive Congress (APC) but a calculated plan by the CBN governor and a few cronies surrounding President Muhammadu Buhari. Earlier this week, Governor Nasir El-Rufai of Kaduna State accused several people working in the presidency of working against Asiwaju Tinubu's presidential ambitions.

Asiwaju Tinubu is the APC's presidential candidate, incumbent President Buhari's party and ideally, should have the backing of the entire government. Governor Ganduje said that by next week if issues regarding the currency issues were not resolved, Nigeria's state governors would take steps to ensure that the plan by Mr Emefiele and a few others does not plunge the country into crisis.

Governor Ganduje said Mr Emefiele acted to deceive President Buhari into redesigning the naira because he failed to make it at the APC primaries. Likewise, Governor El-Rufai warned that the issue is capable of throwing the country into trouble.

“We were told that the CBN so far mopped up over N2trn ($4.3bn) from circulation but only printed about N300bn ($651.4m), which is not enough to go round over 200m people looking for cash. The president asked for time to have a discussion with the CBN and we are going to wait for the aftermath of that meeting,” Governor El-Rufai added.