Bola Tinubu, presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), has hailed the governors of the 36 states for standing on the side of the Nigerian people over the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) new naira and cashless policies, which he said, have subjected the masses to hardships.
The Supreme Court on Wednesday in a suit brought before it by the governments of Zamfara, Kogi and Kaduna States gave an interim injunction against the CBN and federal government allowing the old N200, N500 and N1,000 notes to remain legal tender beyond February 10 deadline until the case is fully disposed of.
Tinubu, in a statement issued by the Director, Media and Publicity, APC Presidential Campaign Council (PCC), Bayo Onanuga, commended the governors, especially the APC governors, who instituted the suit against the CBN and federal government at the Supreme Court, saying they acted well on behalf of the hapless Nigerians who have been made to bear the brunt of the naira redesign policy that has been poorly implemented
Following the apex court’s ruling, Tinubu said that the governors have saved the country from needless political and economic crises and miseries which have clearly become the unintended consequences of the monetary policy of the apex bank.
The former governor of Lagos State noted that the Supreme Court ruling coincided with the advisory of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) advocating the extension of the deadline for the swap of the old naira notes, going by the problems being experienced across the country in getting the new notes.
Tinubu said: “I want to salute the courage of our governors and most 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 towards 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 pains since this policy was announced.”
Tinubu stressed that the federal government and relevant stakeholders could now sit down and work out a better framework on how to proceed with the new policy without causing any social and economic disruption and inconvenience to our people.
He noted that there are examples of other countries that have successfully and seamlessly changed their currencies to learn from.
Tinubu added: “Those countries gave a long time, at least 12 months to effect the currency change. They do not engage in 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.”
Tinubu pointed out that the sole aim of his decision to run for the position of the president of the country was to make life better and more abundant for the people, saying this was the ideal he would remain eternally committed to.
He, therefore, called on the CBN to ensure that the Supreme Court ruling was effectively executed by taking all necessary steps to (i) ensure sufficient availability of naira notes (whether old or new) and (ii) properly sensitising the public on the ruling and the consequent validity of old naira.