Kano State Governor, Abdullahi Umar Ganduje has confirmed that the state resolved and wrote to the Presidency that, the visit of the President to commission some projects is to be postponed.
This is a result of deep concern about the hardship caused by the limited time given for halting the use of old Naira notes by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), and for security reasons.
The Chief Press Secretary to the Governor, Abba Anwar in a statement on Saturday said Ganduje made this known during his interactive sessions with scholars, legislators, political leaders, and the business community in the state at Government House, Kano, Friday, adding that the decision was taken to avoid any unforeseen circumstance.
“As we are waiting for this important visit, we found ourselves in this situation, which puts citizens into untold hardship. For security purposes, we wrote to Presidency that President Muhammadu Buhari’s visit to Kano is postponed.
“We got an acknowledgment copy of the letter. People are really suffering because of this policy,” the governor said.
According to the statement, during the meeting with sections of citizens in the state, they accepted that the decision was a unanimous one. As they all spoke in support of the letter sent to the Presidency.
Two serving Senators from the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), Kabiru Ibrahim Gaya and Barau Jibrin, Twenty members of the House of Representatives, and Thirty legislators from the State House of Assembly were among the groups that put their weight behind the governor.
The governor lamented that “there are no banks in most of our rural communities. How these people get new Naira notes is of great concern. Just look at what is happening in our urban areas, people go and spend hours upon hours in banks without any assurances of getting the new notes.”
Even at Point of Sales (POS) according to the governor, one cannot transact with ease, hinting that, many of them closed shops due to uncertainty.
Ganduje emphasized that Kano being a commercial hub must be heard loudly, insisting that, “This problem affects all of us. Therefore our voice must be heard in all nooks and crannies.
“We are a commercial hub. As such our position must be loud and clear.”
He further revealed that, under one platform, Nigerian governors without consideration of party affiliation, sent delegates to President Buhari complaining to him about the hardship caused by the new development.
“Governors from all the political parties put heads together and sent delegates, but to no avail. So also, traditional rulers followed the same path, but individually. But up to now, there is nothing in that respect.”
In Kano, according to him, the government calls leaders of all sections of people around, whenever a situation like this arises, revealing that, “we invited scholars who were here yesterday. And today we are having this interactive session with the business community and our legislators.”
To revalidate the position of the Kano people, as contained in the letter sent, Ganduje would take representatives from sections of the populace to go and see President Buhari and hear from them verbatim, the statement added.
