Governor Nasir El-Rufai of Kaduna State says agents of the President Muhammadu Buhari-led administration are planning to use the cash swap policy and fuel scarcity to incite crisis for military take over.
The agents, he said, are plotting to install interim an government to be headed by a retired General and pave way for military take over.
El-Rufai made the allegations in a sate-wide broadcast on Thursday.
He said the scarcity of naira notes and petrol is part of a plot to disrupt the elections in order to ensure an interim government takes over.
According to him, the naira crisis is part of plots to ensure that Bola Ahmed Tinubu, the presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), loses the election.
The Kaduna governor, therefore, asked residents of the State to continue using the old Naira notes.
El-Rufai’s directive is coming after President Muhammadu Buhari insisted in his national broadcast earlier in the day that both the N1,000 and N500 old Naira notes are no longer legal tenders.
His words, “It is important for the people of Kaduna State, and indeed Nigeria, to know that contrary to the public pronouncements and apparent good intentions, this policy was conceived and sold to the President by officials who completely lost out in the Gubernatorial and Presidential Primaries of the APC in June 2022.
“Once Asiwaju Bola Tinubu emerged as the candidate in June 2022, and subsequently did not pick one of them as his running mate, this currency redesign policy was conceived to ensure that the APC presidential candidate is deprived of what they alleged is a humongous war chest.
“They also sought to achieve any one or more of following objectives:
“Create a nationwide shortage of cash so that citizens are incited to vote against APC candidates across the board resulting in massive losses for the Party in all the elections;
“Ensure that the cash crunch is so serious, along with the contrived and enduring fuel shortage existing since September 2022, that the 2023 Elections do not hold at all, leading to an Interim National Government to be led by a retired Army General.
“Sustain the climate of shortage of fuel, food and other necessities, leading to mass protests, violence and breakdown of law and order that would provide a fertile foundation for a military take-over.”
