APC National Chairman, Senator Abdullahi Adamu, has called an emergency meeting of the party’s state governors for Sunday, February 19, 2023, at 2 p.m. in the National Secretariat, Abuja. The summons comes amid escalating tension between President Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.) and several aggrieved governors over the recent naira redesign policy, which has caused widespread hardship over the past three weeks.
The cash squeeze, blamed on the Central Bank of Nigeria, was intensified when the President declared that the old ₦1,000 and ₦500 notes were no longer legal tender, contrary to a Supreme Court ruling. He also ordered the CBN to allow the old ₦200 note to circulate alongside the new one. Following the President’s broadcast on Thursday, Governor Nasir El‑Rufai of Kaduna State publicly disagreed with the President’s stance, asserting that the old ₦1,000 and ₦500 notes remained legal tender in his state and accusing the redesign of undermining the general elections in favor of an interim government.
Other APC figures, including Governor Abdullahi Ganduje of Kano State and House of Representatives Speaker Femi Gbajabiamila, also criticized the President’s position. Governors El‑Rufai, along with those of Kogi and Zamfara states, filed a lawsuit seeking a restraining order to halt the deadline for using the old notes. Several additional APC governors have joined the suit against the federal government.
The dispute intensified on Friday when the APC Presidential Campaign Council issued a statement denying claims that presidential candidate Asiwaju Bola Tinubu had instructed some APC governors to ignore Buhari’s directive. Bayo Onanuga, the Council’s Director of Media and Publicity, labeled the allegations as fake news and clarified that they did not originate from PCC Adviser on Media and Communications Dele Alake, as alleged.
Shortly thereafter, the party’s National Publicity Secretary, Felix Morka, announced that Chairman Adamu would meet with all APC governors on Sunday. While the agenda was not disclosed, sources indicated that the meeting would address the internal division and “cold war” currently affecting the party. The official invitation reads: “The National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress, His Excellency, Senator Abdullahi Adamu, invites state governors of the party to an emergency meeting to be held on Sunday, February 19, 2023, by 2 p.m. at the National Secretariat, Abuja.”
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