By Enyichukwu Enemanna
Barely 24 hours after President Muhammadu Buhari addressed the nation, backing the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) that the old 500 and 1000 notes have lost their legal tender status, riots on Friday broke out in major cities in the West African country as citizens insist the shortage of the redesigned Naira notes have affected their livelihood.
The President had in a nationwide broadcast on Thursday directed that only the 200 Naira old notes are to circulate along the newly redesigned 200, 500 and 1,000 Naira notes for the purpose of transactions while the old 500 and 1,000 Naira notes will cease to be recognized as legal tender.
This comes as some state governors, particularly governors Nasir El-Rufai of Kaduna State and his Kano State counterpart, Umar Ganduje both in North West Nigeria and of the President’s party APC accused the presidency of attempts to destroy democratic structure by issuing a presidential directive on a matter already before the Supreme Court of Nigeria.
The governors accuse President Buhari of endangering the chances of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) in the presidential election coming up Feb. 25 in Nigeria where political actors employ financial inducement to achieve electoral success.
In the early hours of Friday, fighting broke out in Lagos-Ikorodu expressway Lagos, South West Nigeria as the Naira crunch lingers. Protesters were said to have blocked major roads while commuters came under heavy attacks, causing traffic gridlock in the axis.
They resisted the presence of police officers but instead threatened to torch police stations in the area.
In Ogun State, youths also took to the streets in demonstrations against the Naira crunch in addition to scarcity of petroleum products in major cities of the country. The demonstrators set bonfire on the highway and barricaded the Mowe end of Lagos-Ibadan expressway, a development that forced motorists to turn back.
In the Obafemi Owode Local Government Area of the state, shop owners closed their shops and scampered to safety even as riots spread to the Magboro axis of the highway, causing panic among travellers.
Protest also rocked the Diobu and Mile 1 areas of Port Harcourt, Rivers state, South-South Nigeria. Reports indicate that banks were set on fire by the angry protesters.
Residents of the affected areas have been advised to stay indoors due to gun shots being heard.
Nasir El-Rufai in a state-wide broadcast on Thursday insisted that the Naira scarcity is a deliberate ploy ensure an interim government takes over.
He alleged that the development was meant to ensure that the presidential candidate of the ruling All Progressives Congress, Bola Tinubu, and other candidates of the party lose in the coming elections.
He said, “It is important for the people of Kaduna State, and indeed Nigeria, to know that contrary to the public pronouncements and apparent good intentions, this policy was conceived and sold to the President by officials who completely lost out in the gubernatorial and presidential primaries of the APC in June 2022.
“Once Asiwaju Bola Tinubu emerged as the candidate in June 2022, and subsequently did not pick one of them as his running mate, this currency redesign policy was conceived to ensure that the APC presidential candidate is deprived of what they alleged is a humongous war chest.
“They also sought to achieve any one or more of the following objectives: create a nationwide shortage of cash so that citizens are incited to vote against APC candidates across the board resulting in massive losses for the party in all the elections; ensure that the cash crunch is so serious, along with the contrived and enduring fuel shortage existing since September 2022, that the 2023 elections do not hold at all, leading to an Interim National Government to be led by a retired Army General; sustain the climate of shortage of fuel, food and other necessities, leading to mass protests, violence and breakdown of law and order that would provide a fertile foundation for a military take-over.”
His Kano state counterpart accused President Buhari of working hard to pay the party and those that supported him back by destroying the party that brought him to power in 2015.
“Imagine someone has been contesting without winning elections until after a merger was formed. He won the election and spent four years, and re-contested again and he won, now that he is about to go, he is doing nothing but to destroy the party that elected him,” Ganduje said.
