Senator Smart Adeyemi, an All Progressives Congress (APC) lawmaker from Kogi State, says he is too big to lie.
Addressing newsmen in Abuja at the weekend, the former President of the Nigerian Union of Journalists (NUJ) said his background does not permit him to lie.
Adeyemi had addressed the media on the naira crisis and its effect on the economy.
Currently, many Nigerians have not been able to get the new N200, N500, and N1,000 notes, prompting a scarcity and attendant suffering in the polity.
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On Friday, President Muhammadu Buhari asked Nigerians to give him seven days to resolve the crisis caused by the scarcity of new naira notes.
The president said he has seen reports about cash shortages and the effect on local businesses and ordinary people.
He said the remaining seven days of the 10-day extension will be used to crack down on the encumbrances mitigating the successful implementation of the currency redesign policy.
“I will revert to the CBN and the Minting Company. There will be a decision one way or the other in the remaining seven days of the 10-day extension,” the president said on Friday.
But Adeyemi frowned at the seven days’ request, saying not many could wait for that long.
He said, “There is no room for anybody to want to run Nigeria into trouble. We are gradually getting over the problem of fuel scarcity maybe somehow but this currency something is what affects the majority of us. People don’t have access to money. Do you know how people are suffering ?
“I have over 4,000 messages here of people begging for money. I don’t have the money either. I went to the bank. I was told there is no currency. Nobody is paying us. Mr. President, thanks for your concern, but seven days is a long time. It’s like a woman who is in a labour room and you said she should continue to labor for seven days.
“Mr. President, not all women in the labour room will survive seven days. This problem is like a woman in the labour room, Mr President. This is how the situation is. Nigerians are suffering. Majority who are poor are languishing. Mr President, you have done your best whether anybody likes it or not. Apart from the insecurity that has beclouded other achievement, Buhari you have done your best.
“But, you see this problem we are going through, don’t let it be what will define your administration, Mr President. Those surrounding Mr President are hypocrites; majority of them. Misinformation, I will tell you. I have followed the APC on campaign to about 12 states in Nigeria and there is no state we’ve visited that I don’t marvel at the turn out.
“You know one thing? My Bible tells that, ‘Hell shall be the potion of liars’. I am too big to lie. Lie to you for what? There is no reason to lie. My background will not allow me to lie. I can’t lie to you.”
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