President Buhari Meets Tambuwal, Bagudu, Emefiele, Others Over Cash Crunch

President Muhammadu Buhari on Tuesday met with the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Godwin Emefiele, the Chairman of the Nigeria Governors’ Forum, Aminu Tambuwal; and the Chairman of the Progressives Governors’ Forum, Atiku Bagudu over the scarcity of the new naira note.

Naija News reports that the said private meeting was held at the President’s office at the State House in Abuja.

It was gathered also in attendance at the meeting were the Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Abdulrasheed Bawa; as well as the Chief of Defence Staff, Gen Lucky Irabor.

It was learnt that even though all present at the meeting didn’t disclose the reason for the meeting, sources within the Presidency affirmed that the President was wary about the possible perception of disregard for lawful orders.

However, speculation is that the presence of the CBN boss and Tambuwal might indicate that the meeting might be regarding the issues of cash crunch and frustrations of Nigerians.

Naija News understands that hitherto to the private meeting, the President was said to have originally scheduled with the Nigerian Governors’ Forum, but it was cancelled for reasons yet to be clarified.

Sources, however, say the President might have cancelled the meeting because of the court order forbidding the government from extending the February 10, 2023 deadline for the swapping of three old naira notes.

It would be recalled that the President had met with the Governors of the All Progressives Congress (APC) on February 3, where the governors had asked him to allow both the old and new notes co-circulate to ease the cash crunch recorded across the country.

Naija News reported on Monday that the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) High Court, has stopped the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) from suspending or extending the February 10 deadline for the phase-out of the old naira notes.

It was gathered that the presiding judge, Justice Eneojo Eneche, gave the ruling on Monday in a motion by five political parties.

Justice Eneche also stopped President Muhammadu Buhari and 27 commercial banks from interfering with the deadline or issuing any directive contrary to the said date.

The judge also granted an order directing the Chief Executive Officers (CEOS) of the banks, to show cause why they should not be arrested and prosecuted for the financial sabotage of the country, by illegally hoarding and not disbursing the new N200, N500, and N1000 bank notes, despite the supply of such notes by the apex bank.