Afenifere alleges fuel, Naira scarcity ploy to foist interim govt on Nigerians

The pan-Yoruba socio-political organisation, Afenifere, has alleged that the current scarcity of fuel and new Naira notes was a plot by some individuals to disrupt this month’s elections and impose an interim government on Nigerians.

The Afenifere leader, Ayo Adebanjo, stated this in a statement issued by the group’s National Publicity Secretary, Jare Ajayi, on Tuesday.

The group recalled that the Kaduna State Governor, Nasir El-Rufai, had a few weeks ago alerted Nigerians on a plot by some elements in the presidency to disrupt the elections.

The Kaduna State governor had in a programme on Channels Television alleged that some elements in the presidential villa were working against the success of the All Progressives Congress (APC) presidential candidate, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, in the election.

The statement read: “We are making this call because of the sacrifices we, along with many other Nigerians dead and alive, have made to ensure that we have a civil rule. We are happy that we have had about 24 years of civil rule and six transitions between one civilian administration to another since 1999.

“There is no doubt that we can have better administrations and that we are desirous of having a change. But that change must be through democratic means as enshrined in our constitution. It is in this respect anything that could prompt the change of government through any other means is unacceptable.

READ ALSO: Afenifere urges Buhari to end Naira scarcity before 7 days, decries hardship in Nigeria

“We are in agreement with Governor El-Rufai and all those who insist that elections must hold on February 25 and March 11, 2023, as scheduled.

“Apart from some elements acting or advocating for a regime change that is not recognized by the Constitution, some steps taken recently by the federal government and some of its agencies seem to indicate a desire to create an atmosphere that may make an institution of government in a manner that is alien to the constitution inevitable.

“Three of these steps are (i) creating artificial scarcity of fuel (ii) making it difficult for people to have access to their hard-earned monies and (iii) failing to tame the insecurity in the land.

“Granted that the latter has been with us for a while and we have been managing to move around in spite of it with the hope that the incoming administration will put a final stop to it, the first two were deliberately created to frustrate Nigerians and provoke them into actions that can be used as an excuse to foist a non-democratic government on the people.”

Join the conversation

Opinions

Support Ripples Nigeria, hold up solutions journalism

Balanced, fearless journalism driven by data comes at huge financial costs.

As a media platform, we hold leadership accountable and will not trade the right to press freedom and free speech for a piece of cake.

If you like what we do, and are ready to uphold solutions journalism, kindly donate to the Ripples Nigeria cause.

Your support would help to ensure that citizens and institutions continue to have free access to credible and reliable information for societal development.

Donate Now