Emefiele introduced Naira redesign to help PDP win elections – El-Rufai

… APC demands Emefiele, Malami’s resignation

Governor Nasir El-Rufai of Kaduna State on Friday alleged that the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Mr Godwin Emefiele introduced the Naira redesign policy to help the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) win the 2023 general elections.

“Emefiele was appointed Central Bank Governor by the PDP originally. So, let’s not forget where he came from”, El-Rufai said at a media chat just after the Supreme Court ordered that old N200, N500, and N1,000 notes remain in circulation till 31 December .

The All Progressives Congress (APC) also demanded the immediate resignation of the Attorney General of the Federation, Mallam Abubakar Malami and Emefiele over the Naira swap controversy.

The apex court also nullified the Federal Government’s Naira redesign policy, declaring it as an affront to the 1999 Constitution.

The court said the policy has led to some people engaging in trade by barter in this modern age in a bid to survive.

Sixteen states led by Kaduna, Kogi and Zamfara prayed the apex court to void and set aside the policy on the ground that it is inflicting hardships on innocent Nigerians.

Briefing the media after the judgment, El-Rufai, who witnessed the ruling alongside his brother All Progressives Congress (APC) governors like Yahaya Bello of Kogi State and Bello Matawalle of Zamfara State, said the CBN governor deceived President Muhammadu Buhari to actualise the policy.

“He (Emefiele) is the one that out this policy together to help the PDP win the 2023 general elections and deceived the President into thinking that it is possible to withdraw N2trillion from circulation and reprint everything in three months. No country in world history has done it”, the Kaduna State governor stated.

El-Rufai, who is a member of the President’s party and the ruling APC, said he and his brother APC governors tried to resolve the matter behind closed doors with the President but no success was achieved hence they approached the apex court of the land.

He also said high-ranking members of the Federal Government who are proponents of the policy supported it because they failed to get the APC presidential and governorship tickets.

El-Rufai said the Naira redesign policy was “their revenge plan” for not getting the party’s tickets. While some persons had purchased the APC N100m presidential form for Emefiele, Malami had also picked the N50 million governorship form of the party for Kebbi State but both men withdrew from the APC primaries in May”.

He further said, “He (Emefiele) deceived the President; he gave the President wrong information and the Attorney General (of the Federation, Abubakar Malami), unfortunately, we have to claim that, that one is from our party, supported this policy. And we know why. Go and look at the antecedents. These are people who want to run for President or governor in our party and didn’t make it. This is their revenge plan”.

APC National Vice Chairman (North-West), Mallam Salihu Lukman said on Friday the Malami and Emefiele misled President Buhari to flout the Supreme Court order on the new Naira redesign policy.

In a statement titled, Lukman hailed the court for declaring the cashless policy unconstitutional and an utter violation of the fundamental rights of Nigerians.

He further urged Malami and Emefiele to resign honorably from their positions over the role in the making things difficult for the government and Nigerians.

He said: “It is also unfortunate that President Muhammadu Buhari could be misled into such acts of illegality and abuse of executive powers as pronounced by the Supreme Court. We, and indeed all Nigerians, are grateful to the Supreme Court Justices led by Justice Akomaye for this landmark judicial intervention.

“Given the injurious nature of the consequences of the cashless policy of the Federal Government as was implemented thus far, and the damage of the Supreme Court ruling to the profile of President Buhari, Godwin Emefiele and Abubakar Malami must take personal responsibility for this act of illegality by the Federal Government. In advanced democracies, public officers who commit such acts of illegality voluntarily resign from their appointments.

“Therefore, if indeed, the cashless policy of the Federal Government was supposedly designed to conform with extant legal provisions of the Nigerian Federation, now that it turned out in the direct opposite, both the CBN Governor, Mr. Emefiele and the Attorney General of the Federation, Mr. Malami should accept the limitations of both their knowledge of the law and commitment to democracy by resigning from their respective offices forthwith.

“Rule of law is fundamental to democracy and individuals who flagrantly violate the laws or promote acts that breach the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria must not be tolerated”.