Naira Scarcity: Nigerians must stand up to Buhari — APC campaign deputy director

Retson Tedheke, a deputy director at the directorate of Agro-commodities in the All Progressives Congress (APC) Presidential Campaign Council, says the scarcity of the naira caused by the naira redesign policy of the Central Bank of Nigeria is killing businesses in the rural areas.

He said it was high time Nigerians challenged President Muhammadu Buhari since the president has refused to listen to appeals from all quarters.

Mr Tedheke, in a video he posted on his Twitter account on Tuesday, said Mr Buhari is hurting the people in the rural area with the policy. He noted that employers are unable to pay labourers their wages.

“All over our villages, people are dying of hunger, and the pain which hurts is that President Muhammadu Buhari calls himself the president. President Muhammadu Buhari calls himself the president of the ordinary people, the president of the Talakawa. How can he by this policy be killing rural farmers? I am a farmer that operates a community of 500 farmers. We cannot afford to pay their daily wages. Most of them don’t have bank accounts.

“It is either the president is stone deaf….It is time the Nigerians look at the president and ‘say guy, we elected you, this is a democracy’. This is the system where the interest of the people must be paramount, where the Council of State – council of elders – cannot come to you, how common Nigerians cannot talk to you, and the governors cannot talk to you.

“Who are you? For goodness sake, who are you that Nigerians cannot talk to you, reason with you, ‘bros you well?’ We must get to a point where all of us must be realistic about the expectation of the people of our people, must be focused on rural communities, must focus on narrative on how they grow. The naira is killing businesses. I am selling a crate of eggs that I sell for N1,800 for N1,300, I am losing money, so the farmers are losing money. The economy is struggling,” he said.

CBN policy causing division in the APC

Members of the ruling party have, arguably, been the most vocal against the naira scarcity caused by the naira redesign policy of the CBN.

According to them, the hardship caused by the scarcity of the naira notes could instigate Nigerians against the party.

In recent days, leaders of the party have been more vocal in speaking against the Buhari administration.

PREMIUM TIMES reported the Governor of Kaduna State, Nasir El-Rufai, as saying he does not trust the quality of the decision from the leadership of Mr Buhari.

On Monday, the National Youth Leader of the APC, Dayo Israel, in a tweet stated, that the system is fighting itself a few days before the election, yet, no one has been held responsible.

READ ALSO: Naira Redesigning: Buhari messed up – Northern Elders

“How did we get here? Why is the system fighting itself? Why have heads not rolled? Few days to election, Many whys,” Mr Israel tweeted.

Mr Israel’s cryptic tweet further highlights the in-fighting within the ruling party and by extension the government over the implementation of the Central Bank redesigning of N200, N500 and N1,000 notes.

The governors elected under the party have equally spoken out strongly against the policy of the government.

Some APC governors, namely Bello Matawalle of Zamfara, Mr El-Rufai of Kaduna and Yahaya Bello of Kogi, had approached the Supreme Court to restrain the federal government from enforcing the deadline on the old notes.

Although, the Supreme Court ruled that the federal government should suspend the 10 February deadline until the determination of the substantive matter, the CBN disregarded the order, although it was not a party to the suit.