The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has praised President Muhammadu Buhari for his assurances about credible, free, and fair elections, as well as the Central Bank of Nigeria’s cashless policy (CBN).
Mr Charles Aniagwu, spokesman for the PDP Presidential Campaign Council, revealed this during a press conference on Thursday in Asaba in response to Mr President’s presentation on the naira redesign strategy and the state of the nation ahead of the 2023 elections.
Aniagwu stated that the President’s consent to reissue the old N200 notes for a period of 60 days alongside the newly redesigned notes was a step in the right direction to alleviate the sufferings of the populace caused by a lack of cash in banks.
He stated that individuals who had accumulated funds would have done so in N500 and N1,000 denominations.
The PCC spokesman urged Nigerians to be patient with the government, noting that the cashless policy had the potential to address the country’s concerns of kidnapping, insecurity, inflation, and exchange rate volatility.
He claimed that some opposition leaders were criticising the President and the CBN’s cash policy in order to spark a crisis and disrupt the elections.
“We must agree with Mr President that we appreciate the pains that Nigerian are going through on account of the scarcity of the naira following the redesigning of our currency, particularly the N200, N500 and N1,000 denominations.
“We believe that it is important that CBN takes steps to ameliorate the sufferings of the people and what Mr President did today is a pointer to the fact that government is desirous of solving the challenges of Nigerians who approach the banks for their money.
” So, the decision of the President to authorise the release of the old N200 notes into the economy for a period of 60 days, is a welcome development.
“We also agree that the cashless policy is important to curb corruption, address issues of vote buying, and deal with issues of insecurity and kidnapping which the policy to a great extent has addressed.
“We want to plead with our people to exercise patience with the government.
“We have it on good authority that certain politicians from the opposition party are trying to take advantage of the present situation and sufferings of the people, to trigger a crisis, so as to derail the elections.
“You have seen what happened in Warri and Udu areas of Delta, some of the protesters are burning shops and destroying billboards which has nothing to do with the redesigned naira notes,” Aniagwu said.
He claimed that criminals who set fire to banks were also inflicting misery on Nigerians who work there, and that if the institutions stayed closed, the staff would lose their jobs.
“So, we are pleading with the people of Delta and other Nigerians not to fall prey to the antics of those who are already jittery because they know they would lose the election and want to cause mayhem to undermine the election,” he said.
He, however, expressed concern that those who stuffed the old N500 and N1,000 notes in homes may undermine the assurances of Mr President, to trigger violence, not because they are fighting for the masses.
“Since the cashless policy came in, we have it from intelligence agencies that the spate of kidnapping for ransoms has stopped and it does appear that the naira is also stabilising at the foreign exchange market.
“So, what needs to be done is to fine-tune the policy and not to kill it. And we must commend Mr President for restating his commitment to free, fair, credible and transparent elections.
“He has continuously made it clear that he is determined to leave a legacy of making votes of Nigerians count.”
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Aniagwu urged Nigerians to vote in the upcoming elections, saying that the PDP will not rely on hoarded funds to win.
Mr. Olisa Ifeajika, Chief Press Secretary to Gov. Ifeanyi Okowa, also urged the judges to uphold their end of the bargain and defend the country from the clutches of ambitious politicians.
He pointed out that those opposing the CBN’s cashless strategy belonged to the same political party (APC).
