Buba Galadima: How Buhari fired my uncle over naira redesign in 1984

Buba Galadima, a chieftain of the New Nigeria People’s Party (NNPP), has narrated how President Muhammadu Buhari reportedly sacked one of his uncles over naira redesign in 1984.

Buhari, a retired Army major general, served as the country’s military head of state from 31 December 1983 to 27 August 1985, after taking power in a military coup d’état.

Speaking in an interview on Trust TV’s Daily Politics, Galadima commented on the current hardship in the land as a result of naira redesign policy.

The estranged ally of Buhari also narrated how his uncle who served as a commissioner under Buhari lost his job after he pleaded that the period of naira swap be extended in 1984.

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“…Hassan Albadawi, who was Buhari’s commissioner for education when he was the governor of North Eastern State and later became the sole administrator at Gamboru Ngala on the border with Chad and Cameroon, appeared on television 9 o’clock news and begged the president to extend the time of naira swap because people in his constituency had no access to banks. Before the news ended, another message came, a special announcement, that he thereby dismissed the chairman of that local community,” Galadima said in the Trust TV interview.

Daily Trust reports that the extended deadline to phase out the old notes was Friday, 10 February.

However, the Supreme Court gave an order restraining the CBN from enforcing the deadline for the phasing out of the N200, N500 and N1,000 notes, pending the hearing of a lawsuit brought by three northern states challenging the new currency redesign. It adjourned that hearing until 15 February.

The Attorney-General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami, is challenging that interim ruling by the Supreme Court and the central bank has not spoken on how it intends to comply with the ruling, thus leaving Nigerians confused.

President Buhari held an emergency meeting of the National Council of State on Friday to discuss crucial issues affecting the country including the currency crisis. However, Buhari has not taken a decision on the cash crunch.

Parts of Nigeria have descended into chaos as frustrated Nigerians besieged ATM units in a bid to access their own money.

Violent protests have been recorded in parts of the country, including in Ogun, Oyo and Akwa Ibom in the country’s south, and social media is awash with lamentations of suffering Nigerians, who are not able to access their funds for transactions.