By; AMOS TAUNA, Kaduna
A Northern based support group, Arewa for Asiwaju, has expressed delight with Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, the Presidential Candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), for speaking up against January 31 deadline initially set for swap of the old Naira notes for new ones.
According to the group, Tinubu’s ‘Abeokuta declaration’, which it believes compelled the Federal Government to extend the deadline to 10th February, “saved the nation from going up in flames, as consequence of the raging public anger that pervaded the atmosphere before the sudden 10 days extension”.
Arewa for Asiwaju while attributing the sudden 10 days extension of the Naira swap to what it called Tinubu’s sagacity and courage, said that it was this courage and purposeful leadership shown by the Asiwaju that compelled the government to go back on its earlier “no going back stance”.
It however, said that, Nigerians certainly owe Tinubu immense gratitude for stepping in and risking everything to change the obviously bad situation occasioned by the initial January 31st deadline.
Its North-Central Coordinator, Aliyu Musa Pass, in a statement, said, “whether anyone wants to believe it or not, it is the courageous sagacity displayed by Tinubu that invariably saved the Nigerian commoner from suffering the pains of the initial timeline set by the Federal Government for the unpopular new currency swap.
“And by that singular action, Tinubu also saved the nation from going up in flames as consequence of the raging public anger that pervaded the atmosphere before the sudden 10 days extension.”
The statement explained that Tinubu has proved himself a great statesman, in his now famous Abeokuta declaration, took the bold and necessary step of alerting on the dangers inherent in the new naira policy, its timing and deadline.
It explained that apparently rattled, the President invited Asiwaju to Daura where the man stood his ground insisting the policy was unnecessary, unpopular and would only harm the common man and lead to greater conflict.
The group noted that the nation certainly owe Tinubu immense gratitude for stepping in and risking everything to save an obvious bad situation.
