Datti Baba-Ahmed: El-Rufai’s Comment Over Naira Redesign Treasonable

The Labour Party (LP) vice presidential candidate, Datti Baba-Ahmed has reacted to the comment credited to Kaduna State Governor, Nasir El-Rufai regarding the naira redesign policy following the nationwide broadcast of President Muhammadu Buhari.

Datti Baba-Ahmed Reacts To El-Rufai’s Comment On Naira Redesign Policy

Datti Baba-Ahmed described El-Rufai’s comment as treasonable.

El-rufai had on Thursday in a state broadcast, faulted Buhari on his directive to extend the validity of only the old N200 notes as part of a measure to ameliorate the cash scarcity in the country.

The governor went on to say the old N1,000 and N500 remain legal tenders in his state.

He also stated that the naira redesign aims to scuttle the general elections to allow an interim government led by a retired army general.

But, while addressing a press conference on Friday in Abuja, Datti Baba-Ahmed argued that El-Rufai’s comment amounts to treason and wondered why the presidency is silent.

The LP vice presidential candidate also argued that there is only one authority in Nigeria which is the president and wondered how a sub-national can counter the directive of the President.

According to El-Rufai, the development was meant to ensure that the presidential candidate of the ruling All Progressives Congress, Bola Tinubu, and other candidates of the party lose.

He claimed that those who lost out in the party’s primaries were behind the plot.

He said, “It is important for the people of Kaduna State, and indeed Nigeria, to know that contrary to the public pronouncements and apparent good intentions, this policy was conceived and sold to the President by officials who completely lost out in the gubernatorial and presidential primaries of the APC in June 2022.

“Once Asiwaju Bola Tinubu emerged as the candidate in June 2022, and subsequently did not pick one of them as his running mate, this currency redesign policy was conceived to ensure that the APC presidential candidate is deprived of what they alleged is a humongous war chest.

“They also sought to achieve any one or more of the following objectives: create a nationwide shortage of cash so that citizens are incited to vote against APC candidates across the board resulting in massive losses for the party in all the elections; ensure that the cash crunch is so serious, along with the contrived and enduring fuel shortage existing since September 2022, that the 2023 elections do not hold at all, leading to an Interim National Government to be led by a retired Army General; sustain the climate of shortage of fuel, food and other necessities, leading to mass protests, violence and breakdown of law and order that would provide a fertile foundation for a military take-over.

“Indeed, two of the presidential candidates and a running mate of the opposition parties own or have preferred access to some of the licensed banks. For that reason and by various clandestine arrangements, these politicians have access to hundreds of millions of these new notes, while the traders, merchants, students, and other citizens are queuing for days to withdraw a few thousand naira just to buy food and necessaries.

“Within two to three weeks of implementation, it was clear to everyone that the architects of this policy can see that it is our people that are being affected and not the politicians. It is quite unfortunate that many politicians who either own banks or have privileged access to money are so insulated from the pains of talakawa that they are recklessly endorsing a policy that is being badly implemented.”

Meanwhile, Kanyi Daily reported that presidential aide, Bashir Ahmad slammed Kano State Governor, Abdullahi Ganduje, and his Kaduna state counterpart, Nasir El-Rufai, for criticizing the naira redesign policy by President Muhammadu Buhari.