The Governor of Kaduna State, Nasir El-Rufai, has asked Nigerians to stop depositing their old naira notes in banks promising that the presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Bola Tinubu, will reverse the naira redesign policy if elected as the next president.
The governor stated this on Tuesday in a town hall meeting with leaders of markets in Kaduna state.
Mr El-Rufai has spoken out strongly against the naira redesign policy of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) saying that it was a deliberate attempt by some “elements” in the presidency to sabotage the electoral chances of the presidential candidate of the ruling APC.
Also, the Kaduna governor, alongside his counterparts in Zamfara and Kogi States sued the federal government at the Supreme Court over the deadline for the use of the old naira notes.
The Supreme Court Wednesday ordered the CBN not to end the use of old naira notes on 10 February.
The court gave the order temporarily, cancelling the CBN’s 10 February deadline to end the validity of the old versions of the banknotes based on an ex parte application filed by the state governments.
“Stop returning your money to the banks, nobody will devalue your money, I am pleading with you, it’s just a matter of time, and now it’s remaining 18 days to the election. After the election wait for what Bola Tinubu will say. He will reverse the policy
“Please help us to deliver this message to your brothers and sisters and everyone else to stop taking your old naira notes money to the banks, and continue doing your business transactions with it, Mr El-Rufai told the traders in Kaduna
The CBN announced the new naira notes policy last October and initially gave 31 January as the deadline for the use of the old notes.
The CBN chief, Godwin Emefiele, who announced the policy, had sought to challenge Mr Tinubu for the APC presidential ticket but was forced to withdraw from the race due to public pressure as many questioned the correctness and legality of the bank chief joining active politics while still holding office as the governor of the bank.
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