Governor Nasir el Rufai of Kaduna state has accused Godwin Emefiele, the Central Bank of Nigeria Governor, and other fifth columnists working in the President Buhari’s government of trying to bring the administration down.
El Rufai, a close ally of the president disclosed this during an interview with Channels Television on Wednesday.
The governor spoke amidst tension generated by the CBN decision to phase out the old naira notes for new ones. The policy has not been well received by not a few Nigerians who insist that many people, particularly in the rural area will suffer as a result of the apex bank’s decision to demonetize the N200, N500, and N1000 by February 10.
The CBN Governor had after meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari on Sunday January 30 in Daura, Katsina state, announced that the deadline earlier set to phase out the old currency, has been shifted to February 10 from January 31 this year.
Emefiele also told the House of Representatives ad hoc committee on Tuesday, that the CBN has provided a window for Nigerians to deposit the old naira notes with commercial banks in the country after February 17.
This, however, negates his earlier position that the old banknotes can only be deposited with the CBN after the Tuesday, January 31 deadline.
But speaking, Governor El rufai said the policy was not well conceived by the CBN, insisting that the apex bank is inflicting untold hardship on Nigerians.
He accused the CBN governor of colluding with other “fifth columnists” in President Buhari’s government who want to bring the government down by setting the country on fire.
The Kaduna helmsman said the Naira Redesign “is not the policy of the APC government” but, of the CBN and others who are trying to ensure that the party did not win the February 25 national election.
“These are the policies of the fifth columnisst to bring the government down. Why are you trying to make us poor overnight. There are farmers who earned their money legally, and saved it in the bank. They are not the politicians in Abuja,” El rufai said.
He stated further that the “governors went to the CBN governor, that this cannot be done in few months,” but Emefiele did not listen to them.
“It’s a policy of a few people intentionally designed to bring our government down,” the governor who has been campaigning for Bola Tinubu, presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress, APC, to succeed President Buhari said.
Following a threat by Femi Gbajabiamila, Speaker of the House of Representatives to issue a warrant of arrest for him, Emefiele finally appeared before the House on Tuesday.
Four times, Emefiele had failed to honour the House of Representatives invitation to appear before it, according to checks made by the magazine.
Apparently there seems no end to the naira redesign brouhaha, watchers of the polity said.
