By Desmond Ukandu (Politics Editor)
Nigeria's Presidency, on Friday, said politicians who are unpopular among the electorates and who are morbidly afraid of losing the forthcoming general elections, were the ones opposing the federal government's new policy on currency swap.
The Presidency spoke in response to the on-going rumour that the general elections will not hold from Saturday February 25th as already planned by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), and that instead, an interim government will be foisted on the country by President Muhammadu Buhari.
The said rumour gained ground after the Kaduna State Governor, Mallam Nasir El-Rufai, on Friday, hinted in his state broadcast to the people of Kaduna State, that the elections would not hold and that there are clandestine plans to truncate the nation's democracy and instal an interim government in the country.
Governor El-Rufai, in the broadcast, also urged the people of Kaduna State to ignore the federal government and the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and continue to transact with the old currency notes of N500 and N1000 which was phased out on Friday last week, February 10, 2023.
The Presidency while accusing the opponents of currency swap policy of bad faith, said they were politicians out to create confusion, panic, tension and sow seeds of disaffection in the country, as well as orchestrate hostility against the federal government for private selfish gains.
The presidency insists that the new naira policy was in the public interest, as the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) had raised the alarm that a over 70 percent of the currency notes printed and made available for circulation in country were diverted outside the banking system, especially by some unscrupulous political elements.
This development, the CBN had lamented, had occasion artificial scarcity of money in the country, precipitated mass poverty and hardship in the past seven years; caused spiraling hike in the dollar currency rates; encouraged corruption and above all, slowed down economic growth.
The presidency, in a statement on Friday February 17, 2023 by the Senior Special Assistant to the president on Media and Publicity, Mallam Shehu Garba, denied that President Muhammadu Buhari's administration was planning to truncate the election and instal an interim government as being alleged by some politicians, including Governor Nasir El-Rufai of Kaduna State, in his government house broadcast.
The statement also said that President Muhammadu Buhari was assuring all Nigerian electorates that their votes must surely count under his watch in the coming polls, as it is expected that the new naira policy will curb the influence of money politics in the elections, a practice which has, over the years, eroded the actual democratic will of the people and encouraged progressive bad governance, slow democratic growth and general corruption in the country.
The presidency, however, restated that as a true party man, President Buhari will continue to encourage his party, the All Progressive Congress (APC), to make itself attractive and popular among the voters and also give his genuine support, where necessary, to his party's Presidential candidate, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu and other candidates of the party, in the general elections.
The full presidential statement reads thus:
"Joseph Goebbels, the propaganda Chief of Adolf Hitler said ‘‘Repeat a lie often enough and it becomes the truth’’. This was in the 1930s, before the internet was birthed.
"Let us clearly, specifically and emphatically state that there is absolutely no truth to the claim that President Muhammadu Buhari is working towards an interim government or even worse, the truncation of democracy- democracy that he has helped to keep alive not only here at home, in West Africa but throughout the continent.
"The talk of interim government and truncation of democracy is way off the mark. Those who peddle it stand to gain nothing- nothing at all -but the creation of panic and the incitement of the public against the federal government.
"It is another dangerous dimension by people who are afraid that they may lose their elections.
"Everybody is aware that there is a lot of pressure on everyone-all of us- the party, its elected officials, its candidates and law enforcement agencies following the way the currency swap has gone but the way to go is not to panic.
"There is indeed a problem and nobody will pretend that it doesn’t exist.
"It is precisely because the President is concerned with this problem that he opened several avenues for consultation with leaders and groups across the country, culminating in his broadcast to the nation on Thursday morning.
"In line with the speech, his clear and unequivocal directive is that the problem of cash supply must be addressed without delay.
"While this is being done, there is no need to panic. We need to work together as leaders; as a people and as one nation. When panic hits, people go into overdrive. Shouting helps no one because no one can listen.
"The solution to the problem is not in sending Nigerians into confusion.
"Elections, just a week ahead, will hold and Nigerians will vote for the All Progressives Congress, APC, (and any others if they so wish) on the basis of their choice.
"Our people want progress, good governance, law and order and will not be swayed by the negative energy that is being expended against a well-meaning currency change.
"Finally, to state that: the President clearly has a favoured successor in Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, is not in doubt.
"The fact that Tinubu has been opposed to the speed and timing of the Naira swap timetable does not mean he is against the idea of Nigeria becoming a cashless society. Of course, Tinubu does support a cashless society: for he is a man of the future.
"What should be made crystal clear to the doubters and the speculators and the untruth-tellers is that in no way was the naira swap “engineered” to keep the President in office beyond May 29. Nothing could be further from the truth.
"The President looks forward to handing over the reins of power to his elected successor. This will happen on May 29, 2023 as the Constitution requires it.
"The days of unelected Nigerian leaders, and those who outstay their welcome by unconstitutionally extending it, have gone.
"Signed: Garba Shehu, Senior Special Assistant to the President, (Media & Publicity), February 17, 2023. NNL.
