Governor of Kaduna state, Nasir el-Rufai has advised residents and traders in the state not to reject the old Naira notes, assuring them that his party’s presidential candidate, Bola Tinubu would reverse the policy when elected President.
El-Rufai who addressed the traders in Hausa said, “Stop changing your money and tell everyone to stop taking money to banks. If you sell anything, accept the old note if it’s given to you. Stop saying it’s only the new notes that you will accept because your market will stop and that is what they want,” he said.
“Tell everyone in Kaduna who has the old notes to spend it and buy items. Tell every trader to accept the old notes.
“Nasir el-Rufai, Uba Sani, and Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu promise you that if we (APC) are elected, this policy will be changed and everyone will be given sufficient time to change their money.
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“Stop taking your money to banks, keep them with you. Nobody can make your money become worthless. It is the law; nobody can do it.
“It’s just a matter of time; be patient. We have 18 days to the elections. Once the elections are over, you should expect what Asiwaju Bola Tinubu would say, which is the change of this policy.
“You should help us pass this message to relatives. Everyone should stop taking money to banks; continue trading with the old notes.”
In October 2022, Godwin Emefiele, governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), announced the plan to redesign the N200, N500, and N1,000 notes, and asked Nigerians to deposit their old notes before January 31, 2023, when they would cease to be legal tender.
The deadline was, thereafter, shifted to February 10, but many Nigerians have found it difficult to obtain the new naira notes.
President Muhammadu Buhari, in a broadcast on Thursday morning, following violence in some parts of the nation over rejection of the old notes and scarcity of new notes, ordered that only old N200 notes should be reintroduced and retained as legal tender until April 10, 2023.