El-Rufai said senior officials of the Federal Government claimed that the CBN had already destroyed the old N500 and N1000 notes that were deposited.
By Jeffrey Agbo
Kaduna State Governor Nasir El-Rufai has accused the Federal Government of lying about destroying the old versions of the N200, N500 and N1,000 notes.
Reacting on Wednesday to a report that President Muhammadu Buhari met with governors and they agreed to allow only the N200 notes to be in circulation till April as a condition for withdrawing the suit at the Supreme Court, El-Rufai said there was no such meeting.
In a statement issued by his spokesman, Muyiwa Adekeye, the Kaduna governor said: “Rather, senior officials of the FG reached some governors, including Malam Nasir El-Rufai, on phone to initiate discussions on a possible out-of-court settlement. The terms they proposed were to allow only the old N200 note to remain legal tender and be circulated by the CBN till 10 April 2023.
“They claimed that the CBN had already destroyed the old N500 and N1000 notes that had been deposited, but that those persons who still held the old notes could redeem them up to 10 April 2023.
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“These were not considered as serious proposals, for obvious reasons. Circulating the old N200 notes alone would not be sufficient to relieve widespread human suffering in Kaduna State, and indeed in Nigeria today. They knew that and that is why they falsely claimed that the CBN had already destroyed the old N500 and N1000 notes.
“This is contrary to the fact available to the governors to the effect that the old notes were in the custody of commercial bank branches throughout Nigeria until the evening of Monday, February 13, and not a single N500 or N1000 had been destroyed.”
El-Rufai further said, “It is also a non-starter to insist on a new cutoff date without first assuring that sufficient new notes would have been printed and circulated. Information available to the governors also indicates that the Mint will need at least 12 months to print the minimum amount of N1 trillion needed to ensure a functioning trade and exchange environment in Nigeria.
“The tabling of false facts, inadequate solutions to the sufferings of our people, and the bad faith that some of the FG negotiators displayed in our phone conversations and chats have now been taken further in leaking a false account and context to a respected medium. The plaintiff governors rejected the draft proposal as insincere, and invested our hopes in the Supreme Court of Nigeria.”
The governor said he would address the people of Kaduna State on the “currency redesign mess, the consequences of the extension of the injunction of the Supreme Court of Nigeria, and related matters tomorrow (Thursday).”