President Buhari aide, Bashir Ahmad, has hit back at Kaduna State Governors Nasir el-Rufai and his Kano State counterpart, Gov. Abdullahi Ganduje, for opposing the currency reissue policy of the Federal Government.
Ahmad, the Special Assistant to President Muhammadu Buhari on Digital Communications, alleged that the two Northwest governors were angry about the policy because the public funds they allegedly stole and stashed away in cash in their individual states were no longer useful to them following the withdrawal of old notes by the central bank.
Governors el-Rufai and Ganduje had each told residents in their states to defy the CBN deadline for return of old N200, N500 and N1000 notes to commercial banks, insisting that the notes remained legal tender in Kaduna and Kano.
Ganduje was specifically reported to have threatened banks refusing to accept old notes after the expiration of the extended February 10 deadline with certificate of occupancy revocation.
Both governors also threatened sanctions on individuals and businesses refusing to accept old notes.
That was after the President insisted in his broadcast that the notes were no longer in use.
Specifically, Governor el-Rufai had followed President Buhari’s speech with another state broadcast in Kaduna, in which he countered the president’s and, among other things, alleged that forces within the presidency were indeed planing to dismantle Nigeria’s democracy.
el-Rufai had also led two other northern governors – Kogi and Zamfara – to procure a Supreme Court interim order against the CBN deadline.
President Muhammadu Buhari in his national broadcast early Thursday morning, extended the use of N200 notes to April 10, a 60-day grace, but insisted on his support for CBN’s policy of withdrawing N500 and N1000 notes from circulation.
But Ahmad, in a series of tweets, on Thursday, said the angry outbursts by el-Rufai and Ganduje emanated from the fact that they had stolen and stashed away pubic funds which were now useless.
“This is because the Federal Government decided to move on with the policy on old notes despite the Supreme Court ruling temporarily stopping the naira policy.
“They have stashed away money, and now they’re useless,” Mr Ahmad tweeted on Thursday.
“That’s the reason for all the fuming. Ganduje and co don’t care about the masses. If the money Ganduje and friends are shouting about is legit, why don’t they deposit it to CBN? The EFCC and NFIU will wait for them to verify.”