Timi Frank, a former All Progressives Congress deputy national publicity secretary, charged that the resentful APC governors were frantically attempting to persuade President Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.) to change his mind about the old N500 and N1,000 notes before they would agree to settle the dispute out of court.
An ally of Atiku Abubakar’s from the past, Frank claimed that the pressure to resolve the naira redesign policy cases outside of the Supreme Court was so great that he feared the president and Attorney General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami, might give in.
He made the claim in a statement issued in Abuja on Tuesday.
His concern is coming in the wake of Sunday crucial meeting between the National Chairman of the party, Dr Abdullahi Adamu and governors at the secretariat in Abuja.
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Twelve governors and two deputies were present for the 2.37 p.m. start of the meeting.
Around 4.45 p.m., Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, the party’s presidential nominee, eventually joined the meeting.
At the conclusion of the proceedings, the ruling party and the Progressive Governors Forum urged Godwin Emefiele, the governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, and Abubakar Malami, the attorney general of the federation, to respect the Supreme Court’s decision regarding the naira redesign policy.
In a similar vein, on Monday, Adamu met in private once more with Malami and the three disgruntled governors who had sued the FG to stop the full implementation of the CBN’s naira redesign policy.
The governors were Bello Matawalle, Yahaya Bello, and Nasir El Rufai of Kaduna, respectively (Zamfara).
Although the meeting started at about 1.35 pm and took a little over an hour, none of the participants agreed to speak to the press.
There appear to be discussions about a potential out-of-court settlement as a result of the movements within the party’s national headquarters over the past three days.
In response to the development, Frank asserted that the AGF was considering the APC’s request to resolve the case amicably prior to the Saturday election, according to intelligence he received.
Malami was also urged by the politician to stand up for the people by refusing to give in to the intense pressure from the governors, while Buhari was reminded of his promise to leave Nigerians with free, fair, and credible elections as his lasting legacy.
He said, “Buhari must keep to his words by not bowing to the unholy pressure of the APC’s governors to settle out of court and to have N1,000 and N500 notes reintroduced.
“APC governors don’t have the interest of Nigerians at heart. We have seen how they have serially blackmailed the president to do their bidding in recent past.
“Now they are trying to use blackmail to force the AGF to drop his lawsuit opposing their own request for an out-of-court settlement during the apex court’s Wednesday session.”
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The people of Nigeria should be aware that we only have three days left. Let’s endure the discomfort for the following three days. Without massive vote buying by the APC and its governors, the elections would be tainted, and the current system of ignorance and hardship would continue.
Festus Keyamo, the APC presidential campaign council’s chief spokesperson, responded to the likelihood of an out-of-court settlement by asserting that nothing is legally impossible.
Let’s cross our fingers, he said to our reporter.