“Thirteen” of Nigeria’s 18 political parties have threatened to withdraw from the general elections on February 25 and March 11 due to the CBN’s naira redesign policy.
The “13 parties” praised President Muhammadu Buhari’s redesign of the N200, N500, and N1,000 banknotes at a briefing held on Monday by a coalition of political party chairmen.
If the new deadline of February 10, 2023, is pushed back, as some APC governors want, the parties said they wouldn’t be interested in the elections.
The “13 parties” also criticized the governments of Kaduna, Kogi, and Zamfara States for going to the Supreme Court to obtain an injunction to extend the expiration date for three old notes.
“We hereby announce that at least 13 out of the 18 political parties in Nigeria will not be interested in the 2023 general elections and indeed we shall withdraw our participation from the electoral process if this currency policy is suspended or canceled or if the deadline is further shifted,” Kenneth Udeze, the Action Alliance’s National Chairman, told the press.
The CBN announced its plan to redesign the three banknotes on October 26, 2022. The new N200, N500, and N1,000 notes were then unveiled by the president on November 23, 2022, and the apex bank set a January 31 expiration date for the old notes.
Additionally, the CBN established weekly cash withdrawal limits of N500,000 for individuals and N5,000,000 for businesses.
The apex bank pushed back the deadline from January 31 to February 10, citing approval from the president, to the cries of many Nigerians.
Following a meeting with some APC governors on Friday, Buhari requested seven days to make a major policy decision.