Femi Fani-Kayode, a chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC), has commended the Kaduna State Governor, Nasir El-Rufai, for his stance on the Central Bank of Nigeria’s (CBN) Naira policy.
The CBN had set a deadline of February 10 for the redesign of Naira notes to be in circulation, but some APC governors challenged this in court.
The Supreme Court granted an ex parte application filed by the Kaduna, Kogi and Zamfara State governments, which prevented the CBN from effecting its ban on the old notes pending the hearing and determination of the case on Wednesday, February 15.
In response to this, President Muhammadu Buhari directed the CBN to release the old N200 note, while the old N500 and N1,000 notes would remain invalid.
However, Governor El-Rufai defied this directive, stating in a statewide broadcast that the old N500 and N1,000 notes remain legal tender in his state, and warning that Buhari’s directive was against the Supreme Court order.
He also accused the president of working against the APC’s presidential candidate, Bola Tinubu.
Reacting to the situation, Fani-Kayode, who is currently being interrogated at the Department of State Services over a controversial tweet, described Governor El-Rufai as the “hero of the moment”.
He also expressed confidence that Tinubu would emerge victorious in the upcoming election despite the alleged conspiracies against him.
He wrote, “The hero of the moment is @elrufai. He has spoken the truth and @fkeyamo has confirmed that truth most eloquently and courageously on Channels TV’s ‘Politics Today’ last night.
“Those that hatched and plotted the conspiracy to stop BAT and are attempting to set our nation ablaze and destroy our democracy have failed.
“Next Saturday this matter will finally be concluded, the hopes of the conspirators shall be dashed and our collective enemies shall not only be roundly humiliated and convincingly defeated but also confined to the dustbin”.