February 18, (THEWILL) – The All Progressives Congress (APC) has summoned an emergency meeting of all governors elected under its platform.
A statement issued by the party’s Publicity Secretary, Felix Morka, on behalf of the National Chairman, said the meeting will be held at its National Secretariat in Abuja on Sunday, by 2.00pm.
The statement read: “The National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), His Excellency, Senator Abdullahi Adamu, invites State Governors of the Party to an emergency meeting to be held on Sunday, February 19, 2023, by 2pm at the National Secretariat, Abuja.”
The meeting may not be unconnected with the ongoing consolidated suit filed against the Federal Government on the new monetary policy of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).
Ten governors of the APC had dragged the Federal Government to Supreme Court, praying it to halt the withdrawal of the old N200, N500 and N1000 notes from circulation.
Although the apex bank had restrained the Federal Government from implementing the CBN’s policy to phase out the old notes, President Buhari, in a nationwide broadcast on Thursday, insisted that the N500 and N1000 notes seized to be legal tender while directing the CBN to recirculate the old N200 note to the financial system to ease the current cash crunch.
In a counter directive, some APC governors including those of Kaduna, Kano, Lagos, Ogun, as well as Jigawa and Niger, directed residents in their states to continue to use the old N500 and N1000 banknotes.
“Continue to use them as legal tender as ordered by the Supreme Court of Nigeria. No deadline can render them worthless, ever. The law is on your side. The Central Bank of Nigeria Act, 2007 and the Bills of Exchange Act, both oblige the CBN to recognise your old notes and give you value in new notes whenever you bring them to the CBN, even in the next 100 years”, Governor Nasir El-Rufa’i told Kaduna residents in a statewide broadcast.
However, THEWILL gathered that Sunday’s meeting is meant to make the governors shift ground and probably withdraw the case against Buhari and CBN at the apex court.
