Afenifere, a pan-Yoruba political organisation, has pleaded with the government and all interested parties to maintain the election date of next month and the handover date of May 29, 2023.
The group also expressed their shock at the challenges facing common Nigerians as a result of the scarcity of both fuel and fresh naira notes.
Afenifere reiterated that the elections set for February/March are immovable in a press release issued by its national publicity secretary, Comrade Jare Ajayi.
The group argues that the dates are required due to worries raised by Dr Hakeem Baba-Hamed, spokesman for the Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF), about the potential for using the court to obstruct the election process and the hardships being experienced by Nigerians, the effects of which could be used to jeopardise the ongoing civil rule.
They asserted that "the contrived pains" were evidenced by the ongoing uncertainty and increased difficulties in acquiring fuel, fresh Naira notes, and other energy sources (such as power, gas, kerosene, and diesel).
Because of the ongoing problems in these regions, Afenifere warned that Nigerians’ “peaceful expression of frustration may be used as an excuse to want to tinker with the democratic experiment going on. Such would not be acceptable in any way.”
Afenifere pointed out that on January 27, ACF Director of Publicity and Advocacy Dr Hakeem Baba-Ahmed had said that there have been rumours that the scheduled elections might not take place and that “some kind of unconstitutional contraption might be forced on Nigerians after May this year.” Afenifere cited the ACF secretary.
As ACF has warned, “Nigerians will not accept to live under any arrangement that offends the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria,” and the group has said it agrees with that sentiment.
As Afenifere put it, “For now, the citizens have no choice other than to abide by the constitutional provisions, especially on how to change governments in the country — which is through the electoral process and the peaceful handing-over to the winner,” despite the group’s fervent advocacy for a constitution that will usher in a Restructured Nigeria.
The group argued that the government’s insistence on putting Nigerians through hell in the days leading up to the CBN governor’s announcement that the deadline for the swap of currency notes would be extended from January 31 to February 10 was indicative of a pattern of deliberately putting the people through unnecessary hardship.
“From the beginning of January this year, Nigerians have been calling on the CBN to extend the deadline. The calls were predicated on the non-availability of new naira notes and the impossibility of being able to have the ones on hand swapped for the new ones before the expiration of the deadline on January 31,” Afenifere stated.
It stated that getting new notes at teller windows, ATMs, or point-of-sale terminals was challenging.
Nonetheless, Afenifere acknowledged the delay in the deadline’s implementation until February 10, with the group claiming that the suffering and losses endured by Nigerians over the past week could have been averted “had the extension of the deadline been announced much earlier. There, indeed, is a need for the government, particularly the CBN Governor, to apologise to Nigerians over these avoidable pangs and losses that they suffer – and are still suffering.”
To prevent a repeat of the events of the previous two weeks, the organisation stressed the importance of rapidly stocking banks and other distribution points with new notes.
Despite claims by CBN Governor Mr Godwin Emefiele that the new currency policy is directed at individuals “holding illicit/stolen naira in their homes for speculative purposes,” Afenifere has argued that the policy is hurting the poor.
Afenifere noted that there are other institutional and legal frameworks to deal with this if the authorities intended to use the policy to catch individuals supposedly hoarding illicit, stolen money in their vaults.
“For instance, there is the aspect of the law that prescribes that banks must notify security agencies once a person or an organisation receives or pays out huge sums of money. Why not use that instrument to deal with the situation rather than making life difficult for hapless Nigerians carrying out financial transactions in tens, hundreds and thousands of naira only. It is quite punitive, inhuman, inconsiderate and insensitive. Government and related government agencies need to ensure that such does not repeat itself again,” the group urged.