Naira redesign – APC Governors and others vs Buhari

By Ayo Dada

MaTaZ ArIsInG

While I condemn the implementation of the naira redesign policy of President Buhari and the CBN Governor, Mr. Emefiele that has brought untold hardship to the ordinary people of Nigeria who are already struggling to survive the hell brought upon them by the incompetent administration of the president, I understand the reasoning behind it.

The major reason among others is to stop politicians who have stashed billions of naira at home and everywhere they can from buying victory by buying votes during the upcoming presidential elections of February 25, 2023. As far as fair minded Nigerians are concerned, it is a bold and a good step in ensuring a free and fair elections come election day.

Unfortunately, the implementation, either by design or incompetence is a terrible one from which the poor masses could have been excused. The suffering is real, and the pain is unbearable. I hope the 60 days N200 notes extension will alleviate the hardship this policy has unleashed on Nigerians.

What is mindboggling however, is the hypocrisy of the Nigerian politicians surrounding the naira redesign. If these governors and politicians have put the energy that they are using in pursuing their self interests, which the noise is all about, they use the same energy in finding ways to alleviate the sufferings of the masses of Nigeria, there will not be this much poverty and pain in the land.

Let Nigerians not forget that these were the same politicians and their fellows who vehemently attempted to halt the use of the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System, BVAS, in the 2023 general elections, an act by The National Electoral Commission, INEC, that was passed into Law by President Buhari in 2022. An act introduced by the Electoral Body to increase transparency and ensure credibility of the electoral process.

The irony of the whole hullabaloo is that, most of the voiceferous governors and politicians in opposition to the naira redisign are APC governors. Kano, Lagos, Jigawa, Bauchi Yobe etc, have joined the throng of APC states pushing to thwart the implementation of the naira redesign policy, with some of the states’ governors issuing arrest orders for those who reject the old notes.

On Wednesday, Femi Gbajabiamila said: “Nobody can convince me that it is not a plot to stop Asiwaju (Tinubu) from becoming the president of this country,”

On Gbajabiamila and his co-travelers in the Nigerian Legislature, check this out; The National Assembly increased and approved as they have done every year their budget to N228.1 billion, an increase of about N59.1 billion – against the N169 billion proposed by the president.

The lawmakers increased their 2023 budget despite an initial increase by the president from N125 billion in previous years, to N128 billion for 2021, N134 billion for 2022 and N169 billion for 2023.

Of the N228.1 billion, the House of Representatives is to get the biggest share of about N52 billion while the Senate will get N33.2 billion. The National Budget is N770.72 billion. What has Gbajabiamila done about this obscene and ludicrous amount of money they take home, the highest by far in the world?

On Tuesday, Ogun State governor, Dapo Abiodun threatened to “shut down any Commercial bank operating in Ogun state that refuses to accept old naira notes.

As a capitalist that he is, Dapo Abiodun have continued to sabotage the collective treasury of the state, meant for the welfare of the people. From failing to provide water, to failing to improve health facilities in the state, to failing to finance agriculture, Dapo Abiodun has continued to be a failure.

It is trite to note that, since the governor came to power, he has not executed any major road project. Thus, even all the cheap and low quality inner roads he embarked on are not being completed. Also, the workers are being owed their remuneration, amidst not providing any welfare for them at all – Sahara Reporters, 2022.

These same politicians crying foul now, who suddenly fell in love with the masses are the ones who are destroying the lives of the same people that govern. They are the ones that don’t pay the salaries of their workers for months on end, they steal their money, they are the ones that give themselves unbelievable financial package after they leave office as governors. These are the monies stashed away in all manner and kind of places.

They are the governors who hoarded the palliatives that were meant for the poor masses donated by foreign governments and the United Nations during civid19 but were kept away from the intended recipients, the masses.

El-Rufai had in a statement on Thursday, pointed at unnamed persons as the architects of the design. “My dear people of Kaduna State, with the foregoing revelations, it is clear that our peaceful coexistence as a state, and a nation, is being placed under deliberate danger using the intentional combination of fuel and cash supply disruptions,” he said, and on on Thursday, asked Kaduna residents to ignore whatever directive the CBN has issued on the old naira notes and continue to use them as legal tender in the state. In essence, he is sabotaging the government of his party APC.

If El-Rufai had used or using all the energy he is using now in running from pillar to post, from one media house to the other, to fight the religious and ethnic cleansing going on in Southern Kaduna during his bloody tenure, this genocide would have been reduced to the barest minimum, if not totally eradicated.

Kano State governor Abdullahi Ganduje, said on Thursday, that President Muhammadu Buhari did not achieve anything throughout his eight years in office, and is now determined to ruin the APC before leaving office in May 2023.

In 2022, Ganduje’s administration in Kano was tagged a failure by Spikin. She “accused the present regime of Dr Abdullahi Ganduje of performing below expectation. She argued that the people of Kano hardly felt the presence of government while the state government has been insensitive to the yearnings of the people of the state even as she frowned at excessive taxes by the government. Ganduje, dumped the educational development projects in the state introduced by Sen Kwankwaso and runs the state largely in absentia as he is always away most of the time.

This is the same man that in 2018 was caught on camera receiving bribe of $230.000.00 from one of the contractors in the state. This is the man now crying foul over the naira redesign. The impunity and the boldness, the hypocrisy of these crooked men is absolutely disgusting and should be called out.

Governor Bello of Kogi state, one of those who took Buhari to court over the naira redesign was on August 23, 2021 blasted by APC support group for Tinubu presidency when they took a swipe at him, that; “All Nigerians can attest to the fact that Governor Bello of Kogi State is a disgrace to the Not-too-Young-to-Run campaign. How do we commit a great nation such as Nigeria to a so-called youthful governor who was given an opportunity to lead his state and he messed things up?

“It is on record that you, Governor Bello, remains the governor with the highest number of months of unpaid salaries, and nonperformance despite the huge sums of both internal and federally-generated revenues.

“We advise that you channel all your efforts into begging and praying for forgiveness for all the sufferings you have inflicted on the good people of Kogi state rather than eyeing the presidency.” Nothing has changed in Kogi state since.

These governors, apart from their underperformance, lack of care and empathy for their constituencies, the ones who fold their arms while bandits, terrorists and herdsmen destroy, kidnap and kill their citizens, committing all sorts of atrocities in their respective states, with them doing next to nothing, are those now championing the “cause of the masses?” Wonderful…!

What did any of them do during the #endsars protest to meet the demands of the protesting youths, especially when they were murdered at the toll gate in Lekki?

What has anyone of them said or done about the terrorism, banditry and kidnapping scourge that is ravaging Nigeria?

What has anyone of them done about the high unemployment rate among the Nigerian youths?

What programs or policy has any of them proposed, or embarked on to alleviate the sufferings of the poor masses in their respective states and the federation?

What bills have they proposed in the federal and state legislatures that were passed and subsequently signed into law to fight, and to deter corruption?

What bills have they proposed in the federal and state legislatures that were passed and subsequently signed into law to discourage and to stop vote buying?

What about illegal oil bunkering, state police, restructuring and many other concerns and injustices in Nigeria that kill thousands of people on end every month, directly and indirectly?

Nigerians are wiser now, they are not fooled by the emergency love, the emergency care these selfish and self-centered politicians are now pretending they have for the masses. The main reason they are fighting and crying now is because the stashed away naira have become dust and useless to them.

Those notes are no longer legal tender and will not be able to buy them votes as they are accustomed to, which is why they are fighting tooth and nail to ensure the new note policy is reversed or extended to suit their convenience and purpose.

Even some of the riot’s across the country are suspected to be sponsored by those 5th columnists bent on making sure that the naira redesign policy is sabotaged and becomes unsuccessful.

The unfortunate thing out of all of these shenanigans is that there are so many Nigerians that are sufferings as a result of the implementation of the policy, and to no faults of theirs, truly unfortunate.

Again, I’m not condoning the sufferings the naira redesign implementation has brought upon the poor masses of Nigeria, however, these same corrupt hypocrical cabals put us where we are today.

Jonathan’s BVN changed the game, where no matter how many bank accounts anyone may have, those accounts will be linked to the owner.

The BVN stopped politicians from being able to use fronts to place their loot in the banks which led to massive stashing away of stolen money, which had, and continue to adversely affect the economy of Nigeria, the consequence of which innocent people now suffer.

The question then becomes, who among these morally bankrupt politicians can anyone truly say is/are fighting for the masses, looking at their antecedents?

MaTaZ ArIsInG

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