The Kaduna State Governor, Nasir El-Rufai, said those criticizing the governors of the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC, for rejecting the naira redesign policy of the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, are not being fair to them.
News Digest reports that the governors have faulted the timing of the new CBN policy, saying it is aimed at ruining the chances of the APC, and scuttling the forthcoming generals.
The governors had also approached the Supreme Court to nullify the February 10 deadline set by the apex bank to phase out the old N200, N500 and N1000 naira notes.
But the governors are under fire for rising against the naira policy, with many Nigerians saying the governors are only resisting the policy because it would prevent them from vote buying and eventually led to the defeat of their party.
Reacting to the allegations during an interview with the Hausa Service of Radio France International, RFI, on Monday, Mr El-Rufai refuted the allegations, saying he has always bared his mind and offered recommendations on issues affecting the people.
“What kind of advice is left that I haven’t given to the federal government on how to tackle the insecurity? I have told them several times to kill these terrorists and stop negotiating with them. For a good three years, I have been telling the government to take the fight to their [terrorists] doorstep and wipe them out.
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“So, people have forgotten that I made all these recommendations in the past, and that’s why they are making these false claims against us.
“On the issue of ASUU strike, people have also forgotten that there are state and federal universities. Go and investigate, Kaduna State University didn’t join the ASUU strike because we sat them down and told them the issue is between the federal government and its universities and it has nothing to do with the state. Therefore, you can’t join them,” he said.
Mr El-Rufai who noted that all the securities agencies are owned by the federal government, said governors can only offer advice.
“They own all the security agencies, and we told them what to do, we know the problems better than them because we are closer to the people.
“For example, a train heading to Kaduna State was attacked. Months before the attack, we wrote several letters to the federal government advising them to stop the evening trip to Kaduna, but they ignored our warning.
“So those making the claims are ignorant of the functions of the office of a state governor, and they don’t know the advice we have given behind the scenes to the federal government.
“And it’s not everything you discuss with the president or the federal government that you bring to the public domain.
“And anybody who says the governors are not concerned about the happenings in the country except the naira redesign is not being fair to us, and we will not forgive them,” he added.
The governor insisted that President Muhammadu Buhari was misled by some disgruntled elements into approving the new monetary policy.
