The presidential candidate of All Progressives Congress, Bola Tinubu, has hailed governors in the 36 states of the federation for defending the masses over the controversial Central Bank Naira redesign and cashless policies.
This was disclosed in a statement issued in Abuja on Wednesday by the Director of Media and Publicity for APC Presidential Campaign Council, Bayo Onanuga
The development is coming hours after the Supreme Court temporarily halted the move by the Federal Government to ban the use of the old naira notes from February 10, 2023.
A seven-member panel led by Justice John Okoro had granted an interim injunction against the CBN and Federal Government, allowing the old N200, N500 and N1000 to remain legal tender beyond February 10 deadline until the case is fully disposed.
An excited Tinubu disclosed that the governors, especially the ones governing the APC states who instituted the suit against the FG and CBN at the Supreme Court, acted well on behalf of the hapless Nigerian masses who have been made to bear the brunt of Naira redesign policy.
According to the APC candidate, the apex court ruling coincided with the advisory of the International Monetary Fund urging for the extension of the deadline for the swap of the old naira notes.
He said, “I want to salute the courage of our governors, especially the Progressives Governors in APC, who acted to save our country from avoidable and dangerous political crises and social unrest, which the Central Bank policy on new Naira notes has brought on our country.
“Our country was dangerously careering toward anarchy and political and economic shutdown. But with the Supreme Court interim ruling our country has been pulled back from the precipice. We thank our Supreme Court Justices for ruling wisely on the side of the people who have been subjected to undue agony and pain since this policy was announced.
“The Federal Government and relevant stakeholders can now sit down and work out better framework on how to proceed with the new policy without causing any social and economic disruption and inconvenience to our people. We have examples of other countries that have successfully and seamlessly changed their currencies to learn from.
“Those countries give a long time, at least 12 months to effect the currency change. They do not engage in a CBN-like Fire Brigade approach. We have seen how a good policy can be poorly implemented to cause unintended problems for the people who should be the beneficiaries. While lessons have been learnt, we must now move on as a country and people with a Renewed Hope for a better tomorrow.
“The sole aim of my running to be the president of our country is to make life better and more abundant for our people and this is an ideal for which I will remain eternally committed to.”
The APC presidential candidate further called on the CBN to ensure that the Supreme Court ruling is effectively executed by taking all necessary steps to ensure sufficient availability of the Naira (whether old or new) and properly sensitising the public on the ruling including the consequent validity of old notes.
