Reactions as PCC calls for Emefiele’s removal as Governor of CBN
In view of the public backlash that has continued to greet the controversial Naira swap policy of the Central Bank of Nigeria, the Director of Media and Publicity for the All Progressives Congress Presidential Campaign Council, Bayo Onanuga, has asked President Muhammadu Buhari to sack the CBN governor, Godwin Emefiele.
According to The PUNCH, Onanuga made the call in an interview he granted shortly after the Supreme Court temporarily suspended the February 10 deadline earlier emplaced by the CBN for the cash swap moves.
Onanuga lamented that in a saner clime, the CBN governor would have been kicked out of office for making Nigerians pass through harrowing experiences and untold hardship in the past two weeks.
According to the APC PCC media director, people can now see that it was not an APC-motivated policy as being speculated in some quarters.
He said, “This is not the first time in the world that a currency is being changed. Why is it different in our country? What this has so far revealed is that we have an incompetent CBN governor. In fact, in a normal country, the man ought to have been sacked for making our people pass through hard times. People are being made to pay excessive charges to POS operators. That’s why I said it is all about the Nigerian people. How can somebody sit somewhere and conceive a programme that, rather than bring people relief, is bringing them pain? It is a satanic policy.
“The problem is not about the APC candidate. It is all about the Nigerian people. We are more concerned about the pain and anguish our people are being made to suffer. The currency swap is a CBN policy and we are happy that the president has also intervened. Apparently, he was not given the full details about the change and its implications.
“Emefiele claimed his policy will bring down inflation and strengthen the Naira. Has it done that? The dollar was about N720 some weeks ago, it is now N750. This CBN governor, in my view, should have been sacked. This is the first time in history we are having this gap between official and parallel rate. What the CBN governor is doing, we don’t know whose agenda he is implementing, is totally against the Nigerian people.
“As we are talking, Britain is also changing currency. They are phasing out the queen from the currency and replacing it with that of the king. It is not causing the people any difficulty. It is being done seamlessly.”
But in a swift reaction, the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) kicked against Onanuga’s call, saying it is a ploy devised by the Tinubu camp to avoid defeat at the February 25 presidential election.
The PDP Presidential Campaign Council described the ruling APC as a house divided against itself.
In a telephone conversation, the spokesman for the PDP campaign council and Delta State Commissioner for Information, Charles Aniagwu, said for fighting one of its own, the ruling party has declared itself not ready for the elections that Nigerians are eagerly waiting to participate in.
He said, “APC has become a bad workman that keeps quarreling with his tools. Emefiele is a member of the APC. Why are they fighting themselves? They have fought to the extent of declaring the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd) as another opponent in this election.
“In our case, they say they are happy that Peter OBI will reduce the votes of PDP. That tells you that they are not campaigning on their strength. They said they are happy that there is G-5 crisis. If you are campaigning on your strength, it won’t concern you whether your opponent has any challenge or not. They are trying to hold on to straws and the more they hold on to straws, the more they fall like a pack of cards.”
On how the party received the ruling of the Supreme Court on Wednesday stopping the apex bank from phasing out the 200, 500 and 1,000 notes with effect from February 10, Aniagwu said the PDP was a law-abiding party and would not disparage the court or the Justices over the matter.
“The Supreme Court is the highest court in the land. As a party, we respect the judiciary and we cannot begin to cast aspersions on the judges. We believe the Central Bank knows what is supposed to do to ensure that the policy work in the interest of all Nigerians,” he added.
