We can’t guarantee your safety in Kano, Ganduje tells Buhari over refusal to postpone old notes deadline
Governor Abdullahi Ganduje has asked President Muhammadu Buhari to postpone his visit to Kano state, where his safety can no longer be guaranteed, over his adamant refusal to extend the January 31 deadline for submitting old notes.
“Deeply concerned with the hardship caused by the limited time given for halting the use of old Naira notes by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), and for security reasons, Kano State governor Abdullahi Umar Ganduje reveals that the state resolved and wrote to Presidency that, the visit of the President to commission some projects to be postponed,” a statement by the governor’s media aide, Abba Anwar, disclosed.
The president was expected to pay Kano state an official visit between January 30 and 31.
The statement is coming days after youths staged a protest in Katsina state and pelted crowds and cars of government officials with stones, to express their anger against Mr Buhari who commissioned some projects in the state.
The Kano statement noted that obtaining the new naira notes is causing great hardship for many state residents, particularly those in rural areas and implied citizens may act out of character.
“As we are waiting for this important visit, we found ourselves in this situation, which puts citizens into untold hardship. For security purposes, we wrote to Presidency that President Muhammadu Buhari’s visit to Kano is postponed.”
Mr Ganduje asserted that the state’s lawmakers and political leaders and other stakeholders took the decision in a meeting held at the Government House on Friday where the matter had been deliberated.
“Two serving senators from the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), Kabiru Ibrahim Gaya and Barau Jibrin, twenty members of the House of Representatives and thirty legislators from the State House of Assembly were amongst the groups that put their weight behind the governor,” the statement disclosed.
Mr Ganduje lamented that “that there are no banks in the rural areas” and that many POS operators had “closed shops due to the uncertainty.”
CBN has refused to budge and insisted January 31 as the deadline for submitting old naira notes. The move, seen as a ploy to forestall financial inducement of voters at the general elections next month, has been criticised by many politicians especially those running for office.
Femi Gbajabiamila, Speaker of House of Representatives, on Thursday threatened to compel the police IG to issue an arrest warrant on Godwin Emefiele, the apex bank governor.
Source – Peoples Gazette
My Relationship with Buhari Not Strained, Tinubu Clarifies
The presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Senator Bola Ahmed Tinubu, has dismissed any insinuation of a strained relationship with President Muhammadu Buhari, saying his support for the president is unalloyed and enduring.
Addressing the APC members and supporters yesterday at the party’s presidential campaign rally in Gusau, the Zamfara State capital, Tinubu reiterated that there was no friction in his relationship with Buhari, adding that he had supported the president even before his first day in office, stressing that he would continue to be a supporter of the president.
According to a statement issued by his Media Office, Tinubu, in his prepared speech, which he could not read because of the massive crowd, said: “I have supported President Buhari even before his first day in office. I will continue to be his supporter and friend after his last day in office.”
The former governor of Lagos State said Buhari is leading the nation with courage and selflessness.
“He tackled the problems other leaders ran from. He has earned a place in history that cannot be denied.
“I have said this before and will say it again now: When the true history of this moment is written, President Buhari shall be treated very kindly because of his contributions to the nation,” he said.
Source – ThisDay