APC 2023: The Centre May Not Hold

A 'party' working against itself is what seems to be the situation of today's ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).

Governors of the APC are agitated, angry and disappointed in President Muhammadu Buhari and those behind the new Naira policy

Since the announcement of the currency swap policy earlier this year, Nigerians have been thrown into uncertainty, fear of intensified kidnapping, hunger and a worsened state of poverty.

However, for APC Governors and the party's Presidential candidate, this is direct and absolute sabotage.

Governors including Abdullahi Umar Ganduje of Kano are accusing Buhari of throwing the APC under the bus after they have sacrificed and fought for him to be President for two terms.

Ganduje said it isn't right for Buhari to forget the favours shown to him.

After President Buhari's decision on Thursday, Governor Nasir El Rufa'i of Kaduna said some APC members are hiding behind the new policy to invoke a military takeover or interim Government.

In his speech in Kaduna, El Rufa'i said "Once Asiwaju Bola Tinubu emerged as the candidate in June 2022, and subsequently did not pick one of them as his running mate, this currency redesign policy was conceived to ensure that the APC presidential candidate is deprived of what they alleged is a humongous war chest.

"They also sought to achieve any one or more of following objectives:

"(a.) Create a nationwide shortage of cash so that citizens are incited to vote against APC candidates across the board resulting in massive losses for the Party in all the elections;

"(b.) 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;

"(c.) Sustain the climate of shortage of fuel, food and other necessities, leading to mass protests, violence and breakdown of law and order that would provide a fertile foundation for a military take-over;

“In the pursuit of these objectives, the Central Bank of Nigeria and these other disgruntled Federal officials have so far convinced the President that it is fine for ordinary citizens to be dispossessed of their hard-earned money, and starved if need be, while small and medium-sized businesses are deprived of access to their capital, thereby bringing trade and exchange to a grinding halt."

What angers Nasir El Rufa'i more is that the President has refused to listen to 'reason'.

“Yet, the politicians that the officials have convinced the President to regard as the real targets of the currency redesign policy have not been impeded in any way by it so far. Indeed, two of the presidential candidates and a running mate of the opposition parties own or have preferred access to some of the licensed banks.

"For that reason and by various clandestine arrangements, these politicians have access to hundreds of millions of these new notes, while the traders, merchants, students and other citizens are queuing for days to withdraw a few thousand Naira just to buy food and necessaries," the nation quoted El Rufa'i.

Bola Ahmed Tinubu, one of the men Buhari is allegedly targeting with the naira policy, is beyond furious. At various campaigns, he hinted at his anger, accusing 'some people ' of trying to work against him.

The tension got so high that at one of his rallies, Tinubu said "Buhari has failed, F9". Well, he was trying to decide between 'F8 and F9' but that's not the point now. The point is that he is disappointed in the government and how Buhari is handling his bid to lead the country.

Tensions are high, Buhari seems relaxed, and Emefiele remains the CBN Governor enforcing that the old Naira notes must be swapped with the new ones.

Eight days to the Presidential election, EFCC said it is yet to receive cash to adequately prepare for the elections.

Nigerians, though grabbling with the naira crunch, are anxiously waiting for how all this will affect the elections and what may happen. Either a military intervention, interim government or a win for an opposition party.