By Omeiza Ajayi, ABUJA
The All Progressives Congress, APC, has called on the Federal Government and the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, to comply with the interim order of the Supreme Court asking parties to maintain the status quo on the naira redesign policy from the summit. bank.
This was the outcome of a meeting between the state governor, National Working Committee, NWC and APC Presidential Candidate, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, held yesterday in Abuja.
The party also called on President Muhammadu Buhari to urgently intervene and end the current suffering of the people.
Governors Nasir El-Rufai, Yahaya Bello and Bello Matawalle have earlier taken the Federal Government to the High Court seeking an injunction to suspend the Naira Swap policy of the CBN which has caused untold hardships to Nigerians.
Although the apex court gave an interim order to the Federal Government to maintain the status quo and allow Nigerians to continue using the old Naira notes, the decision was ignored by the government which continued to obstruct its implementation.
In a brief interview at the end of the meeting, Adamu said; “I am sure you are aware of the fact that a meeting involving the governors of APC was held today and the leadership of the NWC of our great party was called this afternoon and we had a discussion and at the end of the discussion, we must resolve as follows and this resolution is without any prejudice to the case that is in the Supreme Court at this time.It has to do with the issue of currency redesign.
“We note seriously that the program and its implementation have caused great hardship to Nigerians and the national economy.
“Therefore, we call on the Attorney General of the Federation and the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria to respect the order of the Supreme Court on the pending interim injunction.
“If the meeting asks His Excellency, Mr. President to intervene to solve the problem that is causing this economic difficulty.”
Also speaking, the Chairman of the PGF Progressive Governors Forum, a platform for all APC governors, Atiku Bagudu from Kebbi state, said all parties in the meeting approved the resolution.
He said; “We are on the same page. APC Governors Forum, NWC is one party. We are all together.
“The chairman said that the governor and the party are one and the same and I am very proud of the conduct of the campaign by our presidential candidate under the leadership of the party led by Abdullahi Adamu and the DG of the Campaign Council and the governor. together with all our APC candidates across the country who have done a tremendous task to mobilize Nigerians”.
7 govs shun meeting
Meanwhile, seven governors of the All Progressives Congress APC on Sunday boycotted an emergency meeting held by the National Working Committee of the NWC led by Senator Abdullahi Adamu.
The meeting which started at 2:35pm was held on issues related to the party’s preparedness for Saturday’s Presidential and National Assembly Elections due to the ongoing shortage of Naira and fuel shortages that have fueled discontent across the country. .
who is absent
Absent from the meeting were Babagana Umara Zulum (Borno), Ben Ayade (Cross River), Dave Umahi (Ebonyi), Abdullahi Umar Ganduje (Kano), Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq (Kwara), Dapo Abiodun (Ogun) and Rotimi Akeredolu ( Ondo ).
Governor. Aminu Bello Masari (Katsina) and Hope Uzodinma (Imo) however sent their representatives.
Those who attended the meeting were Simon Bako Lalong (Highlands), Abdullahi Sule (Nasarawa), Abubakar Sani Bello (Niger), Nasir El-Rufai (Kaduna) and Yahaya Bello (Kogi).
Others are Mohammed Inuwa Yahaya (Gombe), Mai Mala Buni (Yobe), Bello Matawalle (Zamfara), Biodun Oyebanji (Ekiti), Babajide Sanwo-olu (Lagos), Atiku Bagudu (Kebbi) and Mohammed Badaru (Jigawa).
The presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress APC, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu but stormed the meeting in the middle.
Tinubu arrived at the party secretariat at about 5:15 p.m.
In his introduction, Adamu expressed his happiness at the response of the governors.
“I’m happy with the response so far and my understanding is that more of our members are still coming.
“You will remember recent developments that necessitated this invitation.
“We don’t want to judge anyone about where we are in this country because it affects our big party.
“I think the best thing is to ask all those who hold their respective positions and those who are elected on the party platform to come together and have an interaction to understand the situation better.
“That is the essence of this invitation. And I am happy to welcome you sincerely in this interaction”, Adamu said in the opening session.
Line up at NWC
Those who attended the meeting from the NWC were Adamu, Deputy National Chairman (North), Senator Abba Kyari; National Deputy Chairman (South) Emma Eneukwu and National Secretary, Otunba Iyiola Omisore.
Vanguard on Sunday reported a split in the NWC, over concerns that most members of the body were not invited to the meeting.
“The National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), His Excellency, Senator Abdullahi Adamu, has invited the State Governors of the party to an emergency meeting to be held on Sunday, February 19, 2023, at 2pm at the National Secretariat, Abuja.”, party spokesman, Felix Morka said in a news sent out on Friday night.
However, at least two NWC members now say they were unaware of the meeting.
Speaking on record, the two said the meeting originated from Adamu and not the NWC.
“I didn’t know about the meeting with the state governor on Sunday. In fact, I only got to know you after reading your story on your website. So you are the one who informed me”, he said.
The second official, also said that the NWC never met and decided that they should seek a parley with the governors.
“The meeting is strange for some of us. I have not been invited and I am a member of the NWC. However, we saw a report quoting our spokesperson as saying that ‘NWC met the State Governor of the Party’. I am not aware of such a meeting,” he said.
Vanguard checkers revealed at least three other NWC members were at the party secretariat, but were allegedly “banned” from attending the meeting on the orders of Adamu.
‘A word of caution’
A source, who was privy to some of the discussions at the meeting, Adamu expressed displeasure that some governors opposed President Muhammadu Buhari over the Naira redesign policy.
“The chairman said the outburst made the party look bad and advised them not to use the media.
“However, one of the governors also responded that if the party had taken a position on the matter before, perhaps he (the governor) would not make it public. He complained that the meeting was late”, he said.