It was the Governor of Kaduna State who first made the disturbing remark. Nigeria’s president is being deceived to act against the peoples’ interest by some hawks in the villa. Perhaps he was not actually the first. The ruling party’s presidential candidate, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, made similar remarks a few days earlier at a campaign stop in Ogun. He claimed some people were hoarding the money, preventing the people from accessing it.
No long after, the former governor of Edo state, Adams Oshiomole claimed that Nigeria Central Bank governor was the one advising the president to take this ill-fated route. He claimed the CBN governor was aggrieved about his failed attempt to grab the presidential nomination of the APC.
There has been more speculation on the streets. Some have suggested that the culprit is Mamman Daura. Daura is an uncle to the president and known to wield unofficial power in the presidency. But others have claimed that Daura personally told them to campaign for Tinubu – so perhaps the street got it wrong, and he is not the one deceiving Nigeria’s president.
More bizarre, is the claim by others that it is one young lad, Sabiu Tunde, who is behind all the disruptions. Sabiu Tunde is one of Nigeria’s president personal assistants. They claim that he somewhat has control over institutions like the CBN and has the ears of the president. So, has the power and opportunity to create this mayhem.
It appears that at least one occupant of the innermost recesses of the villa agrees that there is some powerplay going on in the villa with respects to the naira cash scarcity. The president’s wife retweeted governor El-Rufai’s tweet on elements in the villa pushing the naira redesign policy.
But how do these allegations make president look? How is it possible that a well experienced General, a former governor in Nigeria’s vast northeast, a former minister of petroleum and ex-military president be so easily deceived? What is really going on?