Old Naira Deadline: What Fashola’s Attack on Festus Keyamo Might Be Signalling According To Bello

Emmanuel Bello, a well-known political analyst, has spoken out about the recent comments made by Babatunde Raji Fashola, Minister of Works and Housing, in which he criticized Festus Keyamo, Minister of State for Labour and Employment. CONTINUE READING…

This comes amid an ongoing debate between some prominent officials of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) and the Muhammadu Buhari administration over the implementation of the Central Bank of Nigeria’s cash swap policy (CBN).

Recall that just a few days ago, Keyamo, the Tinubu-Shettima Campaign Council’s spokesperson, chastised Buhari for disregarding the Supreme Court’s order for the federal government to stop its ban on 500 and 1000 notes across the country.

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According to Keyamo, the President breached the supreme court by authorizing the release of only the old 200 naira notes back into circulation. He went on to say that those close to Buhari had given him terrible advice.

In a separate appearance on Television Continental (TVC) a few hours ago, Fashola, who is also a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), rejected Keyamo’s allegation, claiming that Buhari was perfectly within his constitutional rights to uphold the country’s prohibition on the usage of outdated naira notes. He maintains that, rather than being prompted by the Supreme Court’s decision, the president’s decision to eliminate the limit on the 200 naira notes was driven by a desire to allete Nigerians’ suffering.

During a newspaper review section on ARISE TV’s “The Morning Show” on Monday, Emmanuel Bello addressed the subject. He said that the public disagreement between the two ministers over a government policy was not only the first of its kind in Nigeria’s democratic history, but that it also validated earlier fears of an implosion inside the APC.

“Two ministers in the same cabinet are publicly at conflict,” he stated. Nothing like this has ever happened before. For the first time in Nigeria’s democratic history, we are experiencing such division among persons who should be on the same page about a certain policy, as well as in administration and leadership, but are not.

We can hear Keyamo, the APC spokesman, defending Tinubu and the governors, stating that the policy has hurt everyone and that the president did not thoroughly consider it. And now, someone like Fashola, who is allegedly a product of the Tinubu camp, has come out in support of the President, stating that the policy was initiated in good faith and that the timing is suitable. This occurrence implies that the breakdown inside the APC that we all predicted would occur at the start of this new naira drama has actually begun”.