Kaduna State Governor, Nasir El-Rufai, says the naira redesign policy was introduced by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to foil the presidential ambition of the presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Bola Tinubu.

El-Rufai said though the governors and other government officials were informed that the naira redesign policy was to reduce money laundering and tackle corruption and vote-buying, the policy has brought hardship to Nigerians.

The governor stated that the policy was conceived and sold to President Muhammadu Buhari by government officials who lost out in the gubernatorial and presidential primaries of the APC in June 2022.

He said this in a state broadcast on Thursday.

Governor El-Rufai said: “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.

“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.

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“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.

El-Rufai added: They also sought to achieve any one or more of 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;

“In the pursuit of these objectives, the Central Bank of Nigeria and these other disgruntled Federal officials have so far convinced the President that it is fine for ordinary citizens to be dispossessed of their hard-earned money, and starved if need be, while small and medium-sized businesses are deprived of access to their capital, thereby bringing trade and exchange to a grinding halt.”

He further stated that all the governors’ efforts to modify the implementation of the policy to avoid what they assumed were unintended consequences were unsuccessful.

“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 terribly 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.

“I am referring here to the comments by the candidate of one of the opposition parties who expressed opposition to the recommendation first of the APC state governors, and subsequently of all the governors under the auspices of the Nigeria Governors Forum that the implementation timeline be extended, to enable the old and new notes to be legal tender side by side until the cash shortage ends,” El-Rufai added.

The Star