17th February, 2023
The presidency on Friday rejected claims by some Nigerians, including governors Nasir-El Rufai and Abdullahi Ganduje of Kaduna and Kano states respectively that President Buhari was attempting to foist an interim government on the country, instead of allowing the February 25 election where his successor will be chosen to hold.
Ganduje and El-Rufair made the accusation in reaction to the refusal of the President to shift his position on the naira redesign and cashless policy of Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN despite the suffering the two initiatives have inflicted on Nigerians.
The two governors had separately on Thursday said the insistence of President Buhari to stick with the CBN policies, despite the resulting cash crunch as a result of their implementation and the unease among Nigerians were scripted to provoke a national crisis that will make it impossible to hold the presidential election.
This, they said will lead to foisting of an interim government on the country by President Buhari at the end of his tenure on 29 May.
The governors and other chieftains of the ruling party have also argued that the implementation of the new policies which have resulted in widespread anger across the country was a plot to make APC unpopular and thus, ensure that its presidential candidate, Bola Tinubu, lose in the presidential election.
“This is even beyond not wanting someone to win the election; it is democracy itself they don’t want. They want to set up an interim government committee like that of (Ernest) Shonekan,” Ganduje alleged at a meeting with former lawmakers from the North-West zone of the country on Thursday.
“Which credible politician do you think they can put to head such a committee? Except you just bring people that do not represent the masses but their families, those are the ones you can bring to form interim government,” he added.
On his part, El-Rufai, in a broadcast in Kaduna on Thursday said the naira redesign policy was designed to “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.”
However, Garba Shehu, Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Public Affairs in a statement accused the two governors and others peddling the idea of interim government of engaging in Joseph Goebbels like propaganda against the government.
Shehu, in a statement titled, ‘STOP THE JOKE ABOUT INTERIM GOVERNMENT, ELECTIONS WILL HOLD’ said there is no truth in the claim that the President was trying to truncate Nigeria’s democracy or foist an interim government on the country.
He warned that those peddling such claims are only out to create panic in the country.
He added that the President and all those concerned are taking measures to tackle the problems created by the naira redesign and cashless policy of federal government.
Garba however assured that the presidential election will hold as scheduled and Buhari will hand over to his successor on 29, May 2023.
“What should be made crystal clear to the doubters and the speculators and the untruth-tellers is that in no way was the naira swap “engineered” to keep the President in office beyond May 29. Nothing could be further from the truth.
“The President looks forward to handing over the reins of power to his elected successor. This will happen on May 29, 2023 as the Constitution requires it.
“The days of unelected Nigerian leaders, and those who outstay their welcome by unconstitutionally extending it, have gone,” Shehu who added that Tinubu remains the preferred successor of President Buhari said.
Read the full statement below
STOP THE JOKE ABOUT INTERIM GOVERNMENT, ELECTIONS WILL HOLD
Joseph Goebbels, the propaganda Chief of Adolf Hitler said ‘‘Repeat a lie often enough and it becomes the truth’’. This was in the 1930s, before the internet was birthed.
Let us clearly, specifically and emphatically state that there is absolutely no truth to the claim that President Muhammadu Buhari is working towards an interim government or even worse, the truncation of democracy- democracy that he has helped to keep alive not only here at home, in West Africa but throughout the continent.
The talk of interim government and truncation of democracy is way off the mark. Those who peddle it stand to gain nothing- nothing at all -but the creation of panic and the incitement of the public against the federal government.
It is another dangerous dimension by people who are afraid that they may lose their elections.
Everybody is aware that there is a lot of pressure on everyone-all of us- the party, its elected officials, its candidates and law enforcement agencies following the way the currency swap has gone but the way to go is not to panic.
There is indeed a problem and nobody will pretend that it doesn’t exist.
It is precisely because the President is concerned with this problem that he opened several avenues for consultation with leaders and groups across the country, culminating in his broadcast to the nation on Thursday morning.
In line with the speech, his clear and unequivocal directive is that the problem of cash supply must be addressed without delay.
While this is being done, there is no need to panic. We need to work together as leaders; as a people and as one nation. When panic hits, people go into overdrive. Shouting helps no one because no one can listen.
The solution to the problem is not in sending Nigerians into confusion.
Elections, just a week ahead, will hold and Nigerians will vote for the All Progressives Congress, APC, (and any others if they so wish) on the basis of their choice.
Our people want progress, good governance, law and order and will not be swayed by the negative energy that is being expended against a well-meaning currency change.
Finally, to state that: the President clearly has a favoured successor in Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, is not in doubt.
The fact that Tinubu has been opposed to the speed and timing of the Naira swap timetable does not mean he is against the idea of Nigeria becoming a cashless society. Of course, Tinubu does support a cashless society: for he is a man of the future.
What should be made crystal clear to the doubters and the speculators and the untruth-tellers is that in no way was the naira swap “engineered” to keep the President in office beyond May 29. Nothing could be further from the truth.
The President looks forward to handing over the reins of power to his elected successor. This will happen on May 29, 2023 as the Constitution requires it.
The days of unelected Nigerian leaders, and those who outstay their welcome by unconstitutionally extending it, have gone.
Garba Shehu
Senior Special Assistant to the President
(Media & Publicity)
February 17, 2023