THE Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) on Thursday, February 9, accused the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) of fighting for the retention of old naira notes for the purpose of using it to buy votes in the forthcoming general elections.
Spokesman of the party’s Presidential Campaign Council (PCC), Mr. Charles Aniagwu, who stated this at a news conference in Asaba, said the ruling party was hiding under the guise of fighting for the suffering masses to perfect its plans of spending stashed old notes on vote-buying.
Aniagwu said the PDP, having engaged Nigerians on how it intends to recover and rebuild the country from the ruins of the APC-led government, was very much prepared for the elections and warned against moves that could lead to postponement.
He accused the APC of plotting to derail the electioneering process by instituting frivolous court injunction, warning that the PDP was very ready for the polls to hold as scheduled.
According to Aniagwu: “We are depending on the interface we have had with Nigerians and we are depending on the fact that Nigerians know that Atiku-Okowa have what it takes to rescue and rebuild Nigeria.
“Why is the APC going to court to seek extension of the old notes, rather than ask the court to compel the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to release more new notes to the populace?
“The PDP, as a political party, would want the elections to hold as scheduled. We are impressing it upon the Federal Government and the CBN to make sure funds are available to the people in line with the limits they have set.
“This is important so that when you go to the ATM or the banking hall, you should be able to access the little or the much you desire in line with that benchmark. That is because as a campaign organisation and as a political party, we are not depending on vote-buying, we are very confident of the interface we have had with Nigerians.
“We are confident because Nigerians are looking towards the direction of Atiku Abubakar and Ifeanyi Okowa to recover us from where we are.”
He said the APC was jittery over the naira redesign policy, because it banked on its stashed funds to buy votes, adding: “Why the APC has been very busy fighting President Muhammadu Buhari and the CBN governor (Godwin Emefiele) because they know that they are losing this election. We are confident that we even want the election to hold tomorrow, so that we can begin the process of recovery.
“We are very much eager to go into this election because we are very confident that Nigerians are yearning for the PDP to return to power, so that we can begin to move our country forward once again.”
Aniagwu further said the PDP, as a party, was not interested in joining the suit against the CBN or the Federal Government and any party member who does so is on his own.
“Anybody in the PDP who says he is joining people to go to court for the purpose of truncating the process does not enjoy the support of our PCC or the party at large. We do appreciate the challenges Nigerians are going through with respect to the scarcity of the redesigned Naira notes, we are comforted by the fact that the CBN said it’s doing something to shore up the available funds, so that banks will be in a better position to meet up with the demands of genuine Nigerians who want to spend their money legitimately.
“We support every effort to trap all illicit funds and not make them available for this election. We are very much aware that the APC and its presidential available for this election. We are very much aware that the APC and its presidential candidate are depending on stashed funds largely in the old naira notes.
“That is why you find it very astonishing that three governors of the same political party that initiated a policy are the ones that decided to go to the Supreme Court with a view to short-circuit the progress that is being made.
“You begin to wonder why they didn’t join the CBN or even the banks, because they know that if they do that, they cannot run to the Supreme Court and so they went ahead to activate the original jurisdiction of the Supreme Court with respect to cases between the Federal Government and the states,” he said.
Aniagwu, who is also Delta State Commissioner for Information, said Emefiele and the CBN had been a subject of discussion over the naira redesign policy and wondered why they weren’t joined in their ill-fated suit.
“When they cry, they shout Emefiele, they call CBN, now they went to court, they didn’t not sue the elements, they didn’t sue the CBN. That tells you that that party is only confused, but they also know that they have lost this election.
“We have it on good authority that the APC is trying to trigger processes that could lead to the postponement of this election, but we are happy with the position of the INEC chairman that this election will hold as scheduled.
“We are continuing our interface with Nigerians, and as a PCC, we are confident that Nigerians are looking in our direction. We plead with Nigerians that the challenges they are going through today will be over in a not too distant time. The Egyptians they see today they shall see them no more.
“We are also very happy with Nigerians for the amount of decorum they have maintained even in the midst of the frustration they are going through on account of a whole lot of challenges triggered by the APC in the last seven and half years.
“The fuel crisis we are having now is worse than any we have had before, just check out the amount you are paying for fuel, yet Nigerians are eager to bear and allow the APC to just go away, so that the PDP can kick-start the process of recovery,” he stated
Aniagwu said PDP’s presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, and his running mate, Governor Ifeanyi Okowa of Delta State, were ready to hit the ground running, because the issues militating against the growth and development of the country were very much known to them, noting: “We are not like other presidential candidates that are talking about what they are going to do without talking about how they are going to do it,”
On fuel scarcity issue, he queried the three governors for not approaching the Supreme Court to resolve the impasse, adding: “How come the three governors didn’t know that we had a Supreme Court? In this country, people were having a very difficult time to even obtain their PVCs, these governors were very busy minding their business.
“Today, they pose as if what is affecting them is not having naira in the pockets of Nigerians. That is not their challenge, their challenge is how to deploy the old notes that they have stashed. If not, why didn’t they ask the court to impress it on CBN to provide the new naira notes?
“Why are they interested in the old notes? Nigerians are saying we can’t access the new notes and why can’t these governors go to court to say please print more money let us have the new notes? Why are they busy talking about the old ones?
“This tells you where they are coming from and I tell you very honestly, with the support of Nigerians, we are very convinced that these Egyptians, we shall see them no more very soon.”
