The umbrella body of registered political parties and political associations in the country, Conference Of Nigeria Political Parties (CNPP) has declared the action of Governors of the All Progressives Congress (APC), “seeking to ambush the naira redesign policy of Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN),” as “a plot to retain the old naira notes for the purpose of vote buying.”
In a statement issued in Abuja by its Secretary General, Chief Willy Ezugwu, the CNPP noted that “from all indications, the APC is afraid of losing in the 2023 general elections hence the desperation to kill the CBN monetary policy that could checkmate the use of illicit funds for elections.
“While appreciating the security and anti-graft agencies for their efforts in mitigating the ongoing economic sabotage by desperate politicians through the commercial banks, we urge them to do more to ensure that illicit and proceeds of crime are not deployed by vote buyers in the forthcoming general elections.
“The APC has made Nigerians to believe that the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Mr. Godwin Emefiele, is their enemy whereas the obvious collaboration between some unpatriotic individuals in the and commercial banks actually led to the hoarding of the redesigned naira notes as media reports indicated that banks stashed the new notes in their vaults rather than distributing alloted funds from the CBN through their Automated Teller Machines (ATMs).
“Clearly, the APC, through its Governors in three states — Kaduna, Kogi and Zamfara — has again demonstrated that it is not ready for a free, fair and credible elections in 2023 despite being a beneficiary of such credible process in 2015.
“Even when the party is aware that monetary policy is outside the jurisdiction of the Supreme Court, the party went ahead to use the apex Court to coerce the Federal Government and its monetary agency, into submission with a view to thwarting the cashless policy of the Central Bank of Nigeria.
“The CNPP is therefore afraid that if the Supreme Court continues to allow itself to be willing instrument of destabilisation ahead of forthcoming elections, Nigerians will lose the current enthusiasm and faith in the political process.
“This could be a recipe for crisis which could unnecessarily heat up the polity.
“President Muhammadu Buhari has thus far shown his readiness to ensure free and fair elections and it will be a national calamity for the courts to be willing tools in the hands of politicians to disrupt the ongoing process”, the CNPP stated.
