President Muhammadu Buhari and APC Kano Governor Abdullahi Ganduje appear to be on warpath as Kano State Government has requested the Presidency to put off a two-day official visit of President Buhari to the state.
Reason: Ganduje said the state government is “deeply concerned’’ by the hardship induced by the ongoing cash swap of old notes for new naira notes.
He said the government took the decision to avoid any “unforeseen circumstance’’.
But the President appeared unswayed by the reason adduced by the Ganduje administration for the postponement of the trip and is likely to visit the state tomorrow (Monday, January 30) as scheduled.
Persecondnews recalls that Ganduje had during an interactive session with some stakeholders, including scholars, legislators, political leaders and business community in the state at Government House, Kano, announced the decision asking Buhari to defer the visit.
He cited what he called the fragile state of security in the country and the mood of the people of the state regarding the scarcity of naira and the old notes swap with the deadline fixed for January 31.
A statement by Abba Anwar, the governor’s media aide, said the decision to “advise’’ the President against the visit was endorsed by the stakeholders in the state.
“Deeply concerned with the hardship caused by limited time given for halting use of old Naira notes by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), and for security reasons, Governor Ganduje reveals that the state resolved and wrote to Presidency that the visit of the president to commission some projects be postponed.
“As we are waiting for this important visit, we found ourselves in this situation, which puts citizens into untold hardship. For security purpose, we wrote to Presidency that President Buhari’s visit to Kano be postponed.
“We got an acknowledgment copy of the letter. People are really suffering because of this policy.
“There are no banks in most of our rural communities. How these people get new Naira notes is of great concern. Just look at what is happening in our urban areas, people go and spend hours upon hours in banks and without any assurances of getting the new notes,’’ Ganduje said.
Unperturbed by Ganduje’s reasons, Buhari has insisted on going to Kano as planned as there are federal government’s projects that are due to be inaugurated by him apart from the state’s projects.
Persecondnews gathered that the President’s advance team arrived in the state on Saturday night ahead of the visit.
“If the Kano Governor realizes the nature of President Buhari, he would have known that he is not one to give in to cheap blackmail,” a Presidential Villa source said.
The President had last week visited his home state, Katsina, to inaugurate some projects executed by the Governor Aminu Masari administration.
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