A former lawmaker, Senator Shehu Sani, has said that allowing the N200, N500 and N1,000 old notes to remain legal tender before the February 25 and March 11 elections will enable corrupt politicians engage in vote buying.
The senator, who represented Kaduna Central senatorial district in the 8th National Assembly, made this known on Channels Television’s The 2023 Verdict programme on Wednesday.
Sani said that there is so much poverty in the country which politicians would want to take advantage of by buying voters with stolen money.
“The struggle on this new naira note is as important as the soul of democracy in Nigeria. If you allow these old notes to be used on or before 25th of February, forget about credible and transparent elections. There is so much poverty in this country today.
“People will not see money and turn the other way; money has for a very long time influenced decisions of ordinary people because poverty has been so weaponised. So, as far as I am concerned, there should be no validation of this new note until after the election. If you do that now, the election will be so monetised,” Sani said.
The former lawmaker questioned why the governors under the All Progressives Congress (APC) are insisting on using old naira notes.
He dismissed the claim that the governors are opposing the policy of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) because of the average people, wondering why the governors did not take the Federal Government to court since Nigerians have been “traumatised in the last seven years” over insecurity.
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