Ganduje label CBN naira policy….‘COVID-23’

Governor Abdullahi Umar Ganduje of Kano State has remained unsparing in his condemnation of the naira redesign policy of the Central Bank of Nigeria, tagging it a disease, which he named ‘COVID-23’

This was as the Kano governor also knocked his counterparts in Edo and Bayelsa states, Godwin Obaseki and Duoye Diri, respectively, for going to court to back the CBN on the naira policy.

A statement by his Chief Press Secretary, Abba Anwar, said Ganduje spoke on Monday at the Government House while launching the distribution of palliatives to ease the hardships caused by scarcity of naira notes.

He said, “We will not stop blaming the CBN for this economic blunder. We love our people. Therefore, anything that will disturb their well-being must be rejected, till proper channel and good time are put forth.

“We didn’t invite this situation, neither did we pray for it; and, therefore, we don’t welcome it at all. We gave similar palliatives during the COVID-19 days. And today our citizens are being faced with COVID-23 caused by the CBN. We earlier thought it was a simple disease, but unfortunately, it turned out to be a very serious virus going viral.

“The virus coming from the CBN has affected all our commercial banks, our POS, our ATMs and all other things associated with this. Being the most populous state in the country, we are most affected by this unfortunate development.”

Meanwhile, Ganduje said he was surprised that “opposition parties took the situation to court supporting and protecting CBN in this ill-timed and anti-people policy.”

“That was not done in the most appropriate way and time. Governors of Bayelsa and Edo are all PDP states and are in the forefront in this blunder. So also, the NNPP came out and said what the governor of Kano State said in rejecting CBN’s naira swap was wrong, according to them.

“I wonder what is wrong in speaking the truth that all Nigerians are seriously suffering because of this anti-human and ill-advised phenomenon?” Ganduje asked.

He said what the PDP and the NNPP wanted was for Nigerians to continue wallowing in poverty.

However, Ganduje told the people that the presidential candidate of the All-Progressives Congress, Bola Tinubu, would end the hardship being experienced as a result of the naira crisis if elected President on Saturday.