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Northern Elders blame Buhari for crisis trailing naira redesign

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The Northern Elders Forum (NEF) alleged on Tuesday that President Muhammadu Buhari was “unwilling” to restrain the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Godwin Emefiele, from plunging Nigeria into a crisis over the redesign of the naira notes.

The NEF Spokesman, Hakeem Baba-Ahmed, stated this when he featured on Channels Television’s special election programme, “2023 Verdict.”

He said the CBN’s naira redesign policy and the resulting cash shortage would affect the All Progressives Congress (APC) chances in this month’s election.

The scarcity of the naira notes and uncertainty over the position of the Supreme Court on the validity of the old banknotes have fuelled fears of crisis and possible postponement of the elections.

The apex court will rule on a suit filed by some APC governors challenging the redesign of the naira notes and the deadline for the withdrawal of the old naira notes from circulation on Wednesday.

READ ALSO: Naira redesign: Ogun joins suit against Nigerian govt at Supreme Court

The NEF spokesman said, “There is a lot of anger and to see a situation where the President rather appears unwilling or incapable of reining in Emefiele and say, ‘Listen, perhaps we can allow the old naira and the new naira co-exist for the next six months’.

“President Buhari apparently doesn’t listen to anybody. Emefiele says I will do what I should do because the President has got my back. And Nigerians are saying we know the governor of the CBN is not who is doing all these; it is the President.

“If the President doesn’t want all this suffering and considers the other options, the governor of the CBN won’t get away with these things he is getting away with.”

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