The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) alleged fresh moves by the presidential campaign council (PCC) of APC to derail the 2023 general election and put the country’s democracy in jeopardy. It also alleged that the ruling party had been intercepting and storing the new naira notes for the purpose of vote-buying.
National Publicity Secretary of the party, Hon. Debo Ologunagba, in a statement issued Wednesday, stated that there was credible intelligence of how Tinubu allegedly directed his cronies in the National Assembly to reconvene plenary and use the legislative chambers as platforms to promote incendiary speeches with a view to overheating the polity and making it appear unconducive to conduct elections in the country.
The main opposition party said the moves by the APC campaign to allegedly use certain compromised members in both Senate and House of Representatives to create tension in the polity and derail the conduct of the elections.
Ologunagba stated, “This is in furtherance of the alleged scheme by the APC presidential campaign to use all means, including APC leadership of the National Assembly, to orchestrate security situations that will justify its reported demands to postpone elections as a prelude to the derailment of the electoral process, having realised that it has no chance in the elections.
“Our party has been made aware of a deceptive design by the APC leadership in both chambers of the National Assembly to reconvene plenary under the guise of being concerned about the hardship faced by Nigerians due to the scarcity of new naira notes induced and aggravated by the exposed sinister diversion of new naira notes by the Tinubu campaign.”
The party spokesperson alleged that further information indicated that the APC campaign was reportedly intercepting new naira notes for vote buying purposes, and had also directed the APC leadership in the National Assembly to use their legislative instruments to pressure and compromise financial institutions to succumb to their cash diversion agenda.
He added, “Nigerians can now note the real motive behind the recent statement credited to the APC leadership of the National Assembly where it attempted to justify its plan to reconvene the National Assembly at this time.
“If, indeed, the APC leadership of both chambers of the National Assembly are concerned about the biting cash scarcity, we challenge them to publicly condemn the reported plot by APC leaders and its presidential campaign to clandestinely swap a whopping N22.5 billion in old N1000 notes for new ones in Kano and Lagos states for the purpose of vote buying.”
PDP also challenged the APC leadership of the National Assembly to commence an investigation into the alleged N22.5 billion fraudulent cash swap report if truly it was concerned about the suffering and anguish Nigerians are facing in accessing the new Naira notes.
Ologunagba said it was instructive to note that the Tinubu campaign was yet to deny the reported N22.5 billion cash swap for vote buying, but instead, it resorted to hauling of insults and lame diversionary claims.
Nigerians Must Resist Plot to Undermine 2023 Elections, Says Labour Party
National Chairman of Labour Party, Mr. Julius Abure, called on Nigerians to resist any attempt by the APC governors to arm twist Emefiele to backpedal his stance on the deadline for the cash swap. Abure said this on Wednesday, in an exclusive interview with THISDAY, after the ruling by the Supreme Court.
Abure said CBN was charged with the responsibility to make regulations on monetary policies and it was within the prerogative of the apex bank to make such decisions.
He said, “I don’t see why the Supreme Court should go against what the law has clearly established. It is within the powers of the CBN governor to regulate monetary policies in the country. And he has only exercised that power. It is a power that is exclusively reserved for the CBN and the federal government to exercise.
“That APC governors, who called themselves progressive governors, went to challenge a policy that well-meaning Nigerians have so far commended, shows that their action was born out of the fact that they want to manipulate the 2023 election with vote buying which has become a cankerworm in our political system.
“It’s a deliberate attempt to compromise the 2023 elections. I think that every right-thinking Nigerian should resist it. For us, we have already submitted our old naira notes and we are comfortable with the policy.”
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