Naira redesign ill timed- Kachikwu

Mr Dumebi Kachikwu, the Presidential Candidate of African Democratic Congress (ADC) has expressed concern over hardship being faced by Nigerians due to the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) naira redesign.

Kachikwu said this in a news conference on Friday in Abuja.

“The naira redesign was ill-timed, poorly implemented and designed purely to target the APC Presidential Candidate, Sen. Bola Tinubu.

“Gov. Nasir El Rufai Kaduna State has now confirmed this.

“I again warn that the desperation to stop Tinubu should not plunge Nigeria into a state of anarchy.

“It is heart-breaking to see that Nigerians have died, banks burnt, property destroyed and millions suffering as they desperate try to access an unavailable naira,” he said.

Kachikwu added: “Tens of millions of Nigerians operate within the informal sector and earn daily wages between N500 to N10,000 in cash.

“Most of them live in unbanked or underbanked parts of Nigeria and they now bear the brunt of this ill-conceived policy.

“Don’t we have any conscience as leaders? How do we go to bed at night knowing that Nigerians are queuing outside banks all through the night just to get N5000?

“Poor Nigerians bear the burden of the failures associated with this recolouring.”

“We now watch as mayhem spreads across our cities and convince ourselves that this is a price worth paying as long as it benefits the candidate of our choice.

“This is evil, Nigerians shouldn’t have to die because politicians are fighting for the soul of our nation”.

The ADC Presidential Candidate said that all internal issues bedeviling the country were APC’s problem and shouldn’t lead to loss of lives or illegal manoeuvring all in a bid to truncate Tinubu’s ambition.

He appealed to President Muhammadu Buhari to obey the Supreme Court judgement on the naira redesign to put an end to the suffering of Nigerians.

“For a president who continues to say he is fighting corruption, he must understand that impeding, interfering or obstructing the chances of targeted candidates in an election also amounts to corruption.

“Nigerians deserve free and fair elections, candidates deserve to run their race free of state actors bullying or obstructing them,” he said.

Kachikwu also accused the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), failing to recognise the duly recognised ADC executives, even after a court order.

He said that INEC disregarded the judgement of the Federal High Court in Abuja which recognised the Sen. Patricia Akwashiki led ADC executives and end all dealings with Mr Ralph Nwosu, the former national chairman of the party.

“As you are all aware, Justice Binta Nyako of the Federal High Court gave a ruling on Dec. 20 affirming the end of the tenure of the Ralph Nwosu led NWC.

“And it nullified all actions taken by the illegal body from the end of August 2022 till the date of the ruling.

“This ordinarily should have put an end to the crisis in the ADC but an obviously biased INEC failed to obey this ruling and continued their unholy alliance with Ralph Nwosu.

“I and other candidates of my party were unable to present any agents to represent us in the forthcoming elections as INEC released the agent codes to the Nwosu faction of the party,” he said.

Kachikwu added:”After achieving their nefarious objectives, in the last week, the same INEC has now written to Patricia Akwashiki, the BOT Chairman of our party.

“Affirming and accepting that there exists a leadership vacuum within the party since the tenure of Ralph Nwosu had since lapsed and asking for arbitration between the factions in the party.

“This is very disingenuous of INEC because they only chose to do this after the deadline for agent submission had elapse,” he said.

He added that the ADC candidates across the country had informed him that the same agent codes had been sold by the Nwosu faction to the highest bidder from other parties.