By Peter Claver
Governors on the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC), are currently mounting intense pressure on President Muhammadu Buhari and the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami (SAN), to settle the cases over Naira redesign policy out of the Supreme Court, a former Deputy National Publicity Secretary of the APC, Timi Frank, said on Tuesday.
According to him, Malami has acceded to the request of the APC and its governors to settle the case out of court.
He said the meeting between the leadership of the APC and its governors with Malami was aimed at pressurizing the President and Malami to agree for the out of court settlement request.
Several calls, SMS and WhatsApp messages to the Special Assistant (Media and Public Relations) to the AGF, Dr. Umar Gwandu for response, were not replied.
Frank told journalists in Abuja that the Governors and the leadership of the APC have succeeded in blackmailing both the President and Malami to consider the reintroduction of the N1,000 and N500 notes before the presidential and National Assembly elections scheduled for Saturday.
He insisted that the governors and the leadership of the APC are not working to protect the interest of Nigerians but to be able to deploy their looted funds to compromise the elections through massive vote buying.
Frank, Ambassador to the United Liberation Movement for West Papua (East Africa and Middle East), asked Buhari to be mindful of his promise to bequeath free, fair and credible elections to Nigerians as his parting legacy, saying any attempt to yield to the antics of the governors and APC’s national leadership would defeat that noble goal.
He also told Malami to be resolute and to stand by the people by not succumbing to the overwhelming pressure of the governors now calling for out-of court-settlement.
Frank said the APC and its governors have become increasingly desperate to reverse the Naira redesign policy of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) in order to fraudulently swing the results of the presidential election in favour of their unpopular candidate who cannot win if the elections are free, fair and credible and devoid of monetary inducement of voters.
He called on Nigerians to know that if Malami and the Governors withdraw their suits at the Supreme Court on Wednesday to settle out-of-court, then they should not expect the elections to be credible, free and fair.
“The APC governors don’t have the interest of Nigerians at heart. We have seen how they have serially blackmailed the President to do their bidding in recent past.
“Now they are trying to blackmail the AGF to withdraw his suit challenging their own suit for an out of court settlement during the sitting of the apex court tomorrow.”
Part of the tactics of the Governors have been to consistently drum into the ears of Nigerians that Buhari has so far failed in administering Nigeria, he said.
He said they have also told Buhari and the AGF that the Naira redesign policy and attendant scarcity of new notes would lead to the defeat of the APC during the general elections.
The activist said, “The APC Governors have told Buhari and Malami that the Party cannot win with the Naira redesign policy in place.
“So they have continued to blackmail them. They know their presidential candidate is unpopular and cannot win the forthcoming election if one-man-one-vote prevails.
“Buhari and Malami should know that the forthcoming election is not all about APC and its governors alone.
“Rather, it’s for the generality of Nigerians who desperately need succour from their present hardship through a new and purposeful leadership in the country.”
He insisted that if there is any need to reconsider the reintroduction of the old N1,000 and N500 notes, it should wait till after the elections.
“Nigerians should know that we have only three days to go. Let us bear the pains for the next three days.
“Otherwise, the elections would be compromised through massive vote buying by the APC and its governors and the present order of cluelessness and hardship would continue,” he said.
