EKO HOT BLOG reports that Muiz Banire, a former National Legal Adviser of the All Progressives Congress (APC), has alleged that certain governors elected under the ruling party are pushing for the usage of old N500 and N1,000 notes as legal tender.
According to Banire, “these governors are out to deceive the unwary potential voters into accepting the already stocked old notes in their custody for the purpose of buying voters’ conscience.”
Banire, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria and one-time Environment Commissioner in Lagos State, therefore asked: “prospective voters who must take money to either insist on the real legal tender, as pronounced by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), or any other currency acceptable to them.”
He wrote on his known Twitter handle: “A lot of us might not understand why the Governors are insisting on the old notes being legal tender.
“Certainly, it is not that they don’t know that they do not have the power to declare what is legal tender, neither did they not know that do not lack the capacity to enforce any Supreme Court judgment.
“The secret is simply that they are out to deceive the unwary potential voters into accepting the already stocked old notes in their custody to buy voters’ conscience.
“My counsel is that potential voters who must take money should either insist on the real legal tender as pronounced by the apex Bank or any other currency acceptable to them.
“However I admonish that your conscience is not worth buying but if you must collect the money which mostly is stolen from the treasury, insist on legal tender and still vote your conscience. This is part of our leadership campaign leadership series.”
Banire’s comment comes against the backdrop of the stance of Governor Nasir El-Rufai of Kaduna State, who dared President Muhammadu Buhari on the naira redesign policy, saying the old notes remain legal tender in the state.
In his national broadcast on Thursday morning, Buhari declared that old N500 and N1000 were no longer valid.
But in his statewide address on Thursday night, El-Rufai said the notes remain legal tender until the Supreme Court of Nigeria decides otherwise.
His thoughts were echoed by most loyalists of Bola Tinubu, the presidential candidate of the APC.
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