The representative of Kogi West Senatorial District in National Assembly, Senator Smart Adeyemi, has pleaded with the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.) to review his decision to address the new note scarcity in seven days time.
The senator who is also the Chairman, Senate Committee on the Federal Capital Territory, mentioned this to journalists while addressing them in Abuja.
The president had told Nigerians to give him seven days to decide on a lasting solution to the naira scarcity.
This, he said during a meeting with the governors of the All Progressives Congress.
In his words “I will revert to the CBN and the Minting Company. There will be a decision one way or the other in the remaining seven days of the 10-day extension.”
Senator Adeyemi said that the tension and suffering faced by Nigerians regarding the redesign of the new note is getting unbearable.
He then urged the President to proffer solutions as soon as possible to avoid further hardship, and prevent unnecessary death of Nigerians.
Adeyemi believes that these hitches resulting from the new note design were not Buhari’s fault but caused by some people he referred to as “hypocrites on the corridor of power.”
He said “Mr President, thank you for your concern. But no woman in the labour room will survive another seven days of labour. You have done your best, apart from the insecurity that has beclouded your achievement. Those that surround you are hypocrites.”
He therefore advised the president to consider a further extension of the deadline to phase out the old note from February 10.
“Many of the artisans and small-scale business people have their money at home. As I speak to you, I have a record of people who died because they had no money to buy drugs in the last few days, they died because of complications,” he said.
“I want to tell the President that seven days is too long a time before the change. I am taking a look at happening across the country and already there are demonstrations, violent reactions,” the senator reinstated.
The Punch reported that he described Buhari as a statesman who has fought for the nation’s unity and is steadfastly dedicated to leading Nigeria.
He stated, “I want to call on the President that seven days is too long a period. The pains that Nigerians are experiencing are too much.
“Three days is like one year for people to bear. I am saying this because we were elected not appointed, so I have the responsibility to give feedback of the pains of the people that elected us.
“The pain is much. Everyday is like a year for people to bear. I was elected, I was not appointed. People are asking us, how will they pay money to get money? Artisans are dying on a daily basis.”
