By Aliyu Nuhu
From what governor Nasiru El-Rufai said, the currency redesigning and fuel scarcity are the handiwork of the cabal in Aso Villa to ruin the electoral chances of the APC candidate, Asiwaju Bola Ahmad Tinubu. The president’s wife validated the claims by endorsing El-Rufai’s views.
Now it makes a lot of sense to me. No sitting government with victory in mind will introduce such harsh policies that shut down the economy few days to election. Northerners will go into the polls with anger and no one will vote for APC. I don’t think there is anywhere, except Borno and Yobe the president can go without being pelted with stones. Let him try it.
I have reviewed the policy again and again and could not see the economic sense in it. Withdrawing cash from circulation in a cash economy is a recipe for disaster. CBN has effectively shut down the informal sector of the economy. The North is 95% cash economy. Everything is at a standstill.
I wholly agree with El-Rufai. Emiefele is acting a script to undermine Tinubu. His policies are for political reasons after all he has never hidden his partisanship by attempting to contest in the election. The cabal surrounding the president wanted the vice president to succeed his principal and it didn’t work because no one could defeat Tinubu in the primaries. I was wondering why Osinbajo contested when it was obvious that Tinubu could not be beaten. Now I understand. It was the cabal that gave him the false hope of winning. Today, due to apathy, Osibanjo is not even attending Tinubu’s campaigns.
Unfortunately the opposition politicians are not cashing on the crisis to make political fortunes out of it. Only Kwankwaso knows how to exploit such situation. This is the time to push Nigerians against APC. But they appear docile as if they don’t know the art of political brinkmanship.
As for Tinubu he is not doing the right thing. This is the time for damage control for his electoral benefits. He should distance himself from the new currency policy and promise to reverse it. He should be beyond any fear by now. Buhari can’t do him anything. The president is now a political nonentity. Without Kano and other parts of the North, Buhari is nothing. As long as the governors are with Tinubu he has nothing to fear.
As for Buhari, just forget about him. He has never been in charge of the government. He is just a figure head. If he were the candidate in this election will he allow this kind of crisis?
