The Kaduna State Government has defied the President for the umpteenth time with a ciunter order for its Ministries, Departments and Agencies to make transactions in old niara notes.He also directed them to ensure that their revenue collection agents continue to accept payments made in all denominations of the old and New Naira notes.Special Adviser on Media and Communication to Governor Nasir El-Rufai, Muyiwa Adekeye on Sunday, said Elrufai’s directive is in line with the subsisting order of the Supreme Court.
However, he noted that even though the laws of Kaduna State do not allow personnel of government agencies to be involved in cash collection of revenues it indicated that collection agents authorized by state government agencies do offer citizens a route for cash payment, are expected to comply with the subsisting court order.
The Kaduna State government also indicated that it has received credible intelligence reports of plans by various groups to deliberately disrupt public peace, by organizing street protests.
The state Commissioner for internal security and Home Affairs, Samuel Aruwan, who made the disclosure in a statement on Sunday, warned the citizens that such protests remain strictly prohibited and are therefore, strongly advised to avoid all actions remotely capable of inciting a breakdown of law and order.
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The commissioner appealed to residents to shun the baiting of mischievous groups hoping to ride on these hardships and incite violence as he said government empathized with citizens who have been placed in untold distress as a result of the CBN cash swap policy.
According to the statement, the state government and other concerned state governments, are deploying the full instrumentality of the law to attain a proper resolution, and thus bring relief to citizens.
“Government is also studying options for addressing challenges being faced by citizens with regard to transport to their places of work.
“Any resort to unruly or violent conduct is illegal and against the public interest which values law and order.
“Security agencies have been placed on high alert and have been directed by the Government to decisively uphold law and order.
“Citizens are therefore urged to maintain calm, and to remain peaceful and law-abiding as they prepare to exercise their civic franchise in an atmosphere free of all forms of threat,” Aruwan stressed.
In what seemed like undermining the directive of President Muhammadu Buhari, the Governor of Kaduna State, Nasir El-Rufai, had asked residents of the state to accept the old N500 and N1000 notes as legal tender.
El-Rufai had described the naira redesign policy as a weapon by members of the ruling party and close allies of President Buhari bent on stopping the presidential candidate of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), Bola Tinubu, from winning the 25 February election.
Describing the policy as “mindless”, El-Rufai said it has caused untold hardship for ordinary people of the state, who he said are victims of the policy.
“The sad fact is that the victims of these mindless policies are the people that elected us. It is their welfare that is being threatened. Many of our people have been left in a situation where the money they put in banks has literally been confiscated, depriving them of the ability to buy food and basic necessities.
“Our traders cannot sell as much as they used to because their customers have no access to their hard-earned money,” he said.