Tobias Sylvester
Kano State Governor, Abdullahi Ganduje has postponed the planned visit of President Muhammadu Buhari to the state due to security concerns.
Buhari was scheduled to visit Kano state on January 30 and 31 to commission some projects executed by the Ganduje administration.
But in a statement by the governor’s media aide, Abba Anwar, the president was asked to postpone his planned visit follwoing complaints by Kano residents over the hardship being faced in getting the new naira notes.
Ganduje said Kano lawmakers, political leaders, and the business community backed the decision to postpone Buhari’s visit while urging for the extension of the deadline to return old naira notes.
“Deeply concerned with the hardship caused by the limited time given for halting the use of old Naira notes by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), and for security reasons, Kano State governor Abdullahi Umar Ganduje reveals that the state resolved and wrote to Presidency that, the visit of the President to commission some projects to be postponed,” the statement partly reads.
The statement said the decision was taken on Friday at the Government House during an interactive session with scholars, legislators, political leaders and the business community.
The decision was taken to avoid any unforeseen circumstance, the statement added.
“As we are waiting for this important visit, we found ourselves in this situation, which puts citizens into untold hardship. For security purposes, we wrote to Presidency that President Muhammadu Buhari’s visit to Kano is postponed.
“We got an acknowledgement copy of the letter. People are suffering because of this policy,” the governor said.
“During the meeting with sections of citizens in the state, they accepted that the decision was a unanimous one. As they all spoke in support of the letter sent to the Presidency.
“Two serving senators from the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), Kabiru Ibrahim Gaya and Barau Jibrin, twenty members of the House of Representatives and yhirty legislators from the State House of Assembly were amongst the groups that put their weight behind the governor.
“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.
“Even at Point of Sales (POS) according to the governor, one cannot transact with ease, hinting that, many of them closed shops due to uncertainty,” the governor added.
The governor said “Kano, being a commercial hub, must be heard loudly and clearly because this problem affects all of us. Therefore our voice must be heard in all nooks and crannies.”
Mr Ganduje also said that Nigerian governors, across party lines, sent delegates to President Buhari to complain to him about the hardship caused by the new development.
“Governors from all the political parties put heads together and sent delegates, but to no avail. So also traditional rulers followed the same path, but individually. But up to now, there is nothing in that respect,” Mr Ganduje said.
The governor and other leaders from the state are expected to see President Buhari to demand the extension of the deadline for the use of old naira notes.
KanyiDaily recalls that the governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Godwin Emefiele, had repeatedly said that the 31 January deadline for the use of the old notes is sacrosanct.
