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El-Rufai alleges Emefiele connived with PDP on naira redesign

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The Kaduna State Governor, Nasir El-Rufai, on Monday explained why the All Progressives Congress (APC) governors opposed the redesign of the naira notes initiated by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).

El-Rufai, who is one of the strongest critics of the naira design, joined his counterparts in Kogi, Zamfara, and seven other states to challenge the policy at the Supreme Court earlier this month.

The governors on Tuesday filed a contempt proceeding against the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, and the Governor of Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Godwin Emefiele, at the apex court.

The development followed the refusal of the Federal Government and CBN to comply with the Supreme Court’s order on the implementation of the deadline on the naira swap.

El-Rufai, who spoke on the Hausa Service of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), said the governors opposed the naira redesign because of the hardship it had caused in the country.

He stressed that the policy had pitched the All Progressives Congress (APC) against Nigerians.

He alleged that the CBN Governor, Godwin Emefiele, connived with the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) on the redesign of naira notes.

The governor also dismissed insinuations that they opposed the policy because it would prevent them from buying votes during the elections.

He said: “We reviewed this policy and the hardship it put people into and the feeling of hatred Nigerians developed for the APC because Nigerians are putting the blame on the APC and the people who introduced the policy did it to make our party lose in the election.

READ ALSO: CBN naira swap policy derailed to sabotage 2023 polls —Gov el-Rufai

“After we finished our review, we agreed that the judgment of the Supreme Court should be followed, which is that the old and new notes should be used until the case is over.

“Did vote-buying start today? Why was the money not redesigned before? Why now? Secondly, is vote-buying only done with naira? It can be bought using dollars, euros, CFA, and you can give the voters food.

“There are several ways through which you can buy votes. You cannot take money out of politics, but you can reduce it.

“We are not against this policy because of vote-buying. I swear to God, we are against it because of how we saw people suffering, not the elections.

“The people who pushed for the naira redesign are not members of the APC. You see Godwin Emefiele, it was the PDP that brought him. The others with whom the decision was taken with them know themselves and when the time comes, will expose them because they are not members of our party.

“God willing on Saturday the masses will retaliate against those who want to drag our party to the ground.”

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