Naira Redesign: What I will do if elected President

Rabiu Kwankwaso, the presidential candidate of the New Nigerian People’s Party (NNPP), has promised to reverse the deadline for the implementation of the new naira note policy of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), if he is elected president.

Nigeria’s presidential election was held on February 25.

Mr. Kwankwaso, former governor of Kano State, said he will allow Nigerians with old 200, 500 and 1000 naira notes to deposit in banks.

The CBN has set February 10 as the deadline for scrapping the old naira notes. But the Supreme Court’s decision on Wednesday delayed the enforcement of the deadline.

Speaking on the Channels Television program, ‘State of the Race,’ on Friday evening, Mr. Kwankwaso decried the policy, saying it was targeted to oppress “poor Nigerians.”

“The people that the government thinks will suffer from the policy actually have banks.

“Should I win the (presidential) election, we will allow every legitimate Nigerian to come and exchange it with new paper money,” Mr Kwankwaso promised.

The former Defense Minister noted that “ordinary Nigerians are at the heart of our campaign.”

He said the government’s cashless policy was good but for a time, when “monetary policy was wrong”.

“We do not support the idea of ​​currency redesign at this critical time. We support the cashless policy but the timing is wrong,” he said.

Expressed concern over the impartiality of INEC

Remembering what he called “shameless and violent behavior” from Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) during the 2019 Kano State governorship election, Mr. Kwankwaso said the election referees have a chance to redeem their image in the next poll.

Mr. Kwankwaso said INEC, which is alleged to have colluded with security agencies during the 2019 Kano governorship poll, replaced his ally, Abba Kabiru Yusuf, who was the governorship candidate. District People’s Democratic Party (PDP) in the election.

Mr. Yusuf, who contested the March 11 governorship election in Kano State on the platform of Mr. Kwankwaso’s NNPP, ran against Abdullahi Ganduje, the state governor and APC candidate in the 2019 poll.

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“We are very concerned with INEC because of what they did in Kano in 2019. We hope INEC will do the right thing.

“INEC, the police and other security agencies joined the government to declare the loser (Mr Ganduje) in the election as the winner,” he said.

Speaking on the recent polls that portrayed the Labor Party presidential candidate, Peter Obi, as the winner of the February 25 election, Mr. Kwankwaso said the exercise was full of “lies.”

In the polls, Mr. Kwankwaso was predicted to be in 4th place. But he rejected the results of the polls, insisting that he will win the presidential election.