THE NATION
The hardships caused by the scarcity of the new naira notes are not mere happenstance. Some have asked Nigerians to bear with the government and the Central Bank of Nigeria(CBN), saying that the shortage of the notes is a temporary setback and that the gains, when they manifest, will reinvigorate the economy.
The Minister of Finance, Budget, and National Planning, Mrs. Zainab Ahmed, who once said she knew nothing about the policy when it was announced, later turned around to speak about its benefits. But those with insight into how the policy was conceived dismissed her claims, accusing her of being economical with the truth. To them, the policy was politically motivated. They anticipated the hardships caused by the policy and were too convinced that the government, the All Progressives Peoples Congress ( APC), and its presidential candidate, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, would have their goodwill badly affected before the polls commence on February 25 with the presidential election. The plotters, it was further learnt, are intent on blocking power shift to the South, despite its justifications and implications for national integration, cohesion, and unity.
Competent sources said a retired General, who is determined to ensure that the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) presidential candidate, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, wins the February 25 poll, plotted what has turned the country upside down in the last two weeks.
For Atiku to emerge as PDP presidential candidate, the General played a behind the scene role, mobilising delegates and mounting pressure on other Northern aspirants to withdraw from the race. The withdrawal of Sokoto State Governor Aminu Tambuwal from the primary after it kicked off was due to the pressure.
The retired Army Officer is working in concert with some foot soldiers, who are now trying to whip ethnic sentiments, it was learnt.
Part of the agenda now is the effort being made to persuade Northern leaders, including monarchs, to withdraw support for the APC at the poll.
The fuel and Naira scarcities are also being exploited to cause public disadisaffection and incite voters against the ruling party and its presidential candidate, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
According to the sources, the General, PDP top shots, including Atiku, and Central Bank Governor Godwin Emefiele, are working in cohort to reduce the chance of APC at the presidential poll through blackmail and propaganda.
At a rally in Abeokuta, capital of Ogun State, Tinubu had raised the alarm that the fuel and currency scarcities were meant to demarket APC and its ticket by fifth columnists and saboteurs. He also said they were also exploiting the scenarios to embarrass President Muhammadu Buhari.
To underscore their connivance, Atiku and the PDP leadership kept mute as the currency swap sentenced Nigerians into agony.
PDP Deputy National Chairman Chief Olabode George, who was miffed by the strange silence, blamed Atiku and National Chairman Iyorchia Ayu for their silence on the raging fuel and cash scarcities.
He also expressed surprise over the silence maintained by the Campaign Director-General, Tambuwal.
While Tinubu spoke up on behalf of Nigerians, urging the President and CBN to extend the deadline for the Naira swap, Atiku, who had kept mute, attacked the APC candidate for condemning the fuel and cash crises.
However, PDP and Atiku, who was vacillating, never saw any merit in calling for any extention, despite the public agony.
When the public disenchantment grew, Atiku later called for calm, advising Nigerians to bear with the Federal Government.
The source said elements behind the current crisis were acting a script. “Everything is programmed. The General who was behind Atiku’s emergence as candidate at the PDP primary is coordinating the onslaught against the APC. The aim is to set people against APC and its candidates, particularly Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
“The retired General has experience in such things. He spearheaded the annulment of the June 12 election. He is a PDP supporter who worked behind – the – scene to foist Atiku on the party at the primary. He used Tambuwal to achieve his aim,”he added.
According to the source, “the General has been campaigning underground, visiting his fellow retired Generals and top traditional rulers in the North, telling them why power should not shift to the South. Having succeeded in the PDP, his mission now is to scuttle that unwritten agreement on power rotation among political actors in the country.
“The general was also instrumental to the overthrow of Buhari as military Head of State in 1985. Ganduje felt short of revealing the identity of this General when he said that anti – June 12 actors have regrouped to truncate the democratic process.”
Another source who advised the APC to quickly nip the antics of the retired Army officer in the bud said the General, who is adept in political manoeuvring, has listening ears among those close to President Buhari.
He pointed out that although he and other people opposed to APC had plotted a different outcome for the APC presidential primary, they were disappointed that Tinubu won.
The source recalled that before the APC presidential shadow poll, they dropped Buhari’s name until the President pointedly told those in his cabinent wishing to vie for elective offices to quit.
The source stressed:”One of them was Emefiele, who was said to have bought cars and painted them in APC colours with his picture inscribed on them. People who ought to know better, among them media chiefs, cheered him on . Some went to court seeking judicial pronouncement affirming his right to contest while in office as CBN governor.
“His supporters dismissed the sound and solid argument that he was desecrating the cherished values of tradition of the CBN. When Buhari read the riot act, Emefiele ended his campaign. It was no surprise that he bought into the plot hatched by the general.”
Revealing how the CBN governor was co-opted into the plot to incite the electorate against Tinubu and APC, the source said they creatively introduced the dangerous policy of Naira note redesign and swap in a hurry, knowing that it will inflict hardship on Nigerians who will in turn blame the APC for the mess.
He said that was why Governor Nosiru Rl-Rufai quickly clarified that the Naira change, which was sudden, chaotic and provocative, was not the policy of the ruling party.
However, to get the backing of the government, the General and his allies reached out to those very close to President Buhari.
The source said:”This was easy as they were the promoters of Emefiele for President. Having secured their buying in, Emefiele now sold the idea of currency swap to the president. He told the president that the move would curb kidnappings, abductions and insurgency.
“An elated president Buhari instantly bought into it. He also told the president that it has tremendous economic benefits. Emefiele’s co-conspirators among Buhari’s top aides added that it would demonitise the voting process, thus enhancing the integrity of the forthcoming elections.
“The president was reminded of a similar policy he implemented in 1984 as military Head of State. His face shone like the sun. He nodded approvingly. At that point, there was no going back on the policy as far as Buhari was concerned. Emefiele was mandated to go on with his plan.
“With Buhari now fully in support of the plan, the General, through his boy, Tambuwal, broke the “good news” to the PDP.”
He added:”That was why Atiku and the PDP criticised Tinubu when he spoke in Abeokuta about the devilish plot.”
Instructively, while Tinubu condemned the deadline, which he said, was unreasonable, Atiku never condemned it, but he and PDP twisted Tinubu’s remarks.
Indeed, the PDP candidate, Atiku also asked the president not to allow further extension.
Reacting to Atiku’s statement, the Director of Media and Publicity, APC Presidential Campaign Council, Bayo Onanuga, described the PDP candidate as Nigeria’s enemy number one.
Also, Rivers State Governor Nyesom Wike, who urged President Buhari to call the CBN to order, said the crisis was deliberately created to create a chaotic atmosphere for elections.
Wike urged Nigerians to be calm, despite the provocation.
Many economic experts have condemned the Naira redesign policy, which led to the withdrawal of N2 trillion from the system.
They also pointed that the printing and injection of N300 billion only to the system fell below expectation.
Although Emefiele knew the CBN lacked the capacity to print what will be enough to go round, he kept assuring Nigerians that the apex bank has made enough of the new notes available to banks.
Although the CBN governor accused the banks of hoarding the new notes, many bank workers said the supply was inadequate.
Yet, Emefiele caused Buhari to direct the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission(EFCC), Independent Corrupt Practices Commission (ICPC) and DSS to go after his fellow bankers when he knew that what the CBN had released was not enough to go round.
Nigerians who could not understand and bear the confusion stormed the banks to demand for their trapped cash, creating unsavory scenes and in some cases, beating up bank workers.
At the weekend, Emefiele admitted to the Council of State that the CBN does not have the capacity to print adequate new notes.
PDP leaders are
conspirators, says George
To George, the attitude of the PDP leadership smacked of conspiracy.
He said:”In all honesty, I cannot decipher the logic of quietness against the cliff edge that Nigeria has been plunged.
“Our party, the PDP, and others, such as the Labour Party, SDP, NNPP, seem to have concurred to the present shenanigan. I wonder, what hate, what evil, what madness will propel anyone of sane mind to plunge Nigeria into the present state of hopelessness, annihilation and abject suffering of the citizenry.”
The PDP elder, who spoke with reporters in Lagos, lamented that “due to this anomaly, which is a deviation from regulation or what is regarded as normal, there seems to be a graveyard silence on the part of PDP leadership.
George said:”It puzzles rationality. It benumbs our senses as Nigerians wake up every day to daily agonies of perennial fuel scarcity, tossed at us by the NNPC and the agony of non-availability of cash, occasioned by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) through its Naira rebranding.
“Where is the Presidential candidate of our party, the PDP, Atiku Abubakar? Where is Iyorchia Ayu, the National Chairman. How come the voice of the DG, Campaign Council of the PDP is drowned in perpetual silence against the atrocities of the APC government with the presidential election just a few days away?
“Why have they allowed their voices to be drowned in conspiratorial silence? Where are the opposition political parties? What does the graveyard silence portend for Nigerians?
“It seems to mean that Nigerians’ right to good has been consigned to the dustbin by the political class..”
To the former military governor of Ondo State, the Federal Government is overwhelmed, stunned, halted, stalled, anc puzzled about grappling with the current challenges.
He added:”I believe the various state actors can do better. Managers of our economy should not take Nigerians for granted by churning out retrogressive economic policies.
“We should rather strive to review our focus and our ultimate horizon . Nigeria must withdraw from the destructive brink.”
George lamented that the country has continued to toy with power supply, which is very germane to the development of any developing economy.
He said Nigeria loses an estimated $29 billion in accruable revenue every year due to epileptic power, adding that it is not sustainable.
George stressed:”Power is the very lifeblood of all industrial revolution. It is the fuel of all economic development. A nation without efficient power supply cannot rise into the bright dawn of the digital civilisation.
“It is stuck forever in the bleak dark side of economic underdevelopment and teeters inevitably on economic ruination.”
On the chaotic cash crunch imbroglio, George said:”The decision of the manager of our financial system, the CBN, to redesign the Naira, has only pushed the country further into dire straits.
“Our national economy has sunk deeper into the abyss, and the people are being made to become refugees in their own country with hunger ravaging every home. The policy on the currency should not have been contemplated in the way it was implemented.”
He added: “The citizenry are only worse for the policy, toiling in vain every day for the non-availability of the new notes. The tragic comedy of the financial crisis is the internal exchange rate racket going on in all the states.
“For you to get Naira cash across the counter and from POS operators, there is an ‘exchange rate’ (charges) depending on the financial smartness of the operators.
“Nigerians now pay between 10% and 25% for them to get their hard-earned Naira cash. Nigeria must be the only country in the world where you pay ‘officially’ a percentage in local currency for you to get your money in banks.”
George said Nigerians cannot be forced to move away from a cash-based economy to a complete cashless regime overnight, judging by the current archaic state of technology, the internet which is still in its epileptic state and the perennial fuel supply situation , which has also thrown the country into turmoil .
Frowning at the fuel scarcity, he said it is scandalous, adding:”As Africa’s largest crude oil producer, many months of fuel scarcity, especially during the Christmas and New Year festivities, reflects the dysfunction in Nigeria’s public administration and the economy.”
“The government and its agencies are clueless, making conflicting statements and embarking on uncoordinated actions. This is the time for Nigerians to open their eyes and minds by voting for a competent and experienced person to take us to the promise land. We cannot afford to make mistakes this time around. Any move short of this is a recipe for complete chaos.”
