Naira redesign: El-Rufai, other APC figures speaking up because of elections – Atiku

Former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar, Presidential Candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), says Governor Nasir El-Rufai and other All Progressives Congress (APC) chieftains complaining about the naira design policy are only doing so because it is election season.

There has been outrage across the country over the inability of Nigerians to access the naira.

On Friday morning, governors of the ruling party held a meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari, where they sought his intervention.

The governors, particularly El-Rufai, have been very critical of the policy, lamenting its effect on the masses.

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But in a statement, which Phrank Shaibu, his Special Assistant on Public Communication issued on his behalf, Atiku said the APC chieftains have ulterior motive.

“The remarks credited to the Governor of Kaduna State, Mallam Nasir el-Rufai concerning the crisis arising from the currency scarcity across the country comes across as a low point in the profile of the self-acclaimed Accidental Civil Servant governor.”

“At a point when the masses of Nigeria are groaning under the weight of the currency crunch, it remains inglorious that the Kaduna State governor would, rather than sympathize with the masses, prefer to go on political entanglement over the issue.

“For the avoidance of doubt, the currency crisis, as it stands today, is a mess created by the APC and it will be imprudent of the Kaduna State governor or anyone else to associate the PDP or its presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar with the crisis.”

Atiku wondered why the APC chieftains had not spoken about some policies considered to be against the interest of the common man.

“It is curious why Governor el-Rufai and other elements in the APC had to wait this long before they found it contingent to speak in disapproval of policies initiated by their own political party. Perhaps, it is because for them, self-interest in an election season is more important than public interest.”

“As a matter of fact, the lingering fuel scarcity and, indeed, the currency crisis of which el-Rufai so bitterly complained about did not just start today. In major cities across the country, Nigerians have been contending with the problem of fuel scarcity for almost two years in some places like the Federal Capital Territory, while el-Rufai and others crying foul in the APC turned blind eyes to the plight of Nigerians.

“On the contrary, Atiku Abubakar and the PDP have persistently brought the attention of the country to the sufferings of Nigerians by the APC administration in the past almost eight years.

“Nigerians surely know better who loves them more between Atiku who has remained on the side of the masses and the presidential candidate of the APC, Bola Tinubu who has never come out in defense of the people against the hardship that the APC has subjected the country to since it took power in 2015.”