Politicians Are Resurrecting June 12, Says Ganduje

By Uche Mbah

Governor Abdullahi Ganduje of Kano State, Tuesday, claimed that those behind the annulment of June 12 are regrouping to truncate the upcoming General Elections election.

A group, Association of Better Nigeria, had gone to court asking for the annulment of June 12,1993 Presidential election which the late business mogul, MKO Abiola, was leading at the polls. The Military Government, under Ibrahim Babangida, was later to annul the election before the results were announced.

But Ganduje is equating the current court cases instituted by four political parties to prevent the Presidency and the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, from extending the deadline of Cash swap to the June 12,1993 situation.

According to him, those behind the annulment of June 12, 1993 Presidential election “are regrouping and dangerously masquerading” in the prevailing crisis.

He accused the the Peoples Democratic Party of being behind the crisis.

This was disclosed in a release by the Kano State Commissioner for Information, Malam Muhammad Garba, who went further to claim that the open support of the project testifies to the veracity of their position.

According to the statement, it was “unfortunate that the CBN and its collaborators are insisting unnecessarily on the imposition of an unreasonable time frame for the old Naira notes to cease to be legal tender, in total refutation of the obvious national dearth in the necessary technological infrastructure for the process.

“The rigid insistence on the implementation of these harsh, inhuman and insensitive cash policies to a point of neglecting their widespread rejection by the vast majority of Nigerians including the National Assembly and all state governors, is an ominous agenda for the undermining of the nation and consequent scurrying of a smooth transition to a freely and fairly elected successive administration.”

An Abuja High Court had, Monday, issued a restraining order on the Presidency, the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, Governor and 27 Commercial Banks from interfering with the status quo regarding the ongoing currency swap in Nigeria.

Specifically, they have been restrained from  suspending, stopping, extending or interfering with the currency redesign terminal date of February 10th or issue any directive contrary to the February 10 date.

Five political parties had approached the Court accusing the Commercial Banks of sabotaging the project and the country through acts of hoarding and non disbursement of the new N200, N500, N1000 notes to the public.

The Court was presided over by Justice Enenche.

In a Motion by five of the eighteen political parties the Court presided over by Justice Enenche also granted an order directing the CEO’s of the banks and their alter egos to show cause why they should not be arrested and prosecuted for the economic and financial sabotage of the country by their illegal hoarding, withholding, not paying or disbursing the new N200 N500 and N1000 bank notes despite supply of such notes by the Central Bank.

There have been controversies and tension over the disbursement of the new notes which has put citizens through untold hardship. Governors under the aegis of the ruling party have been pressuring the Presidency to either reverse or extend the deadline. The governors, led by the Kaduna state governor, Nasir el Rufai, include Governors of Kogi, Zamfara, Ondo, Rivers, Imo, Benue, and Kano states.

The case had listed bank CEOs and their staff as respondents.