With just about 21 days to the presidential election billed for February 25, the gloves are again plainly out for the presidential aspirant of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Bola Ahmed Tinubu, and his Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) counterpart, Atiku Abubakar, in the ongoing wrangle over the naira redesign policy.
Tinubu yesterday dragged Atiku, saying the current sabotage of the naira notes exchange and fuel insufficiency that have caused untold difficulty to millions of Nigerians across the country has revealed the true character of the PDP presidential aspirant as public enemy number one of Nigeria.
But Atiku fired back almost instantly, saying Tinubu and the Kaduna State governor, Nasir El- Rufai, were crying foul over the currency change policy because it would frustrate their plan to buy votes in the 2023 general election.
Tinubu, in a statement by presidential campaign council, baited Atiku, saying anyone who lives in Nigeria and not Dubai and visits banks and ATM locations would feel sad that the CBN is making Nigerians to suffer for its naira exchange policy.
The statement signed by director of media and publicity of the APC campaign team, Bayo Onanuga, noted “ Nigerians will recall that since the Central Bank introduced its current cash- limit and new Naira notes exchange policies, Atiku Abubakar and PDP maintained opportunistic silence with the possibility they will benefit from the discomfort the policies will produce for Nigerians and the resentment they will generate for the ruling APC.
While Atiku and PDP were in bed with the ravagers and fifth columnists among the operators of Money Deposit Banks and oil marketers who created the current bottleneck to force the aftermath of the February 25 Presidential election in favour of the former Vice President, our aspirant Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu boldly pitched his tent with the poor commoners who have been most negatively impacted by the antics of these evil doers.
Having realised they’ve lost the initiative and their antics exposed to Nigerians by Asiwaju Tinubu at the APC presidential campaign rally in Abeokuta, Atiku made a half- hearted appeal to CBN to ‘ slightly ’ extend the deadline for the currency exchange.
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We’re currently at a loss to understand what informed the current call of Atiku on CBN not to extend the February 10 deadline despite the unmitigated hardship still being faced by many Nigerians who couldn’t meet their introductory daily needs as a result of lack of cash from banks and the empty ATM machines.
Tinubu said it was a fire squad approach for the bank’s rearmost approach in approving payment of N20,000 at the counter, pointing out that similar move is “far from offering relief as lines are still long, agony and frustrations widening, an summons to riots.
But the presidential aspirant of the PDP, Atiku Abubakar, said Tinubu and the Kaduna State governor Nasir El- Rufai were crying foul over the currency change policy because it would frustrate their plan to buy votes in the election.
Atiku, in a statement by his special assistant on public communication Phrank Shaibu, said while the fuel crisis had lasted for months, Tinubu, El- Rufai and other APC members waited this long before they constitute it contingent to speak in disapproval of policies initiated by their own political party.
He added that the current situation in the country is a mess created by the APC and it wouldl be undiplomatic of the Kaduna State governor or anyone else to associate Atiku with the crisis.
Shaibu added that the remarks credited to El- Rufai concerning the crisis arising from the currency insufficiency across the country came across as a low point in the profile of the self- acclaimed accidental “ servant governor.
He added that at a point when the commoners of Nigeria were moaning under the weight of the currency crunch, it remains inglorious that the Kaduna State governor would, rather than sympathize with the commoners, prefer to go on political trap over the issue.
For the avoidance of skepticism, the currency crisis( and indeed all other crises), as it stands today, is a mess created by the APC and it’ll be indiscreet of the Kaduna State governor or anyone else to associate the PDP or its presidential aspirant, Atiku Abubakar with the crisis.
It’s curious why Governor El- Rufai and other essentials of his class in the APC had to wait this long before they launch it contingent to speak in disapproval of policies initiated by their own political party. maybe, it’s because for them, self-interest in an election season is more important than public interest.
As a matter of fact, the lingering fuel scarcity and, indeed, the currency crisis of which El- Rufai so agonizingly complained about didn’t just start today. In major cities across the country, Nigerians have been contending with the problem of fuel scarcity for about two years in some places like the Federal Capital Territory, while El- Rufai and others crying foul in the APC turned blind eyes to the plight of Nigerians, he said.
