Candidates and chairmen of the political platforms had on Monday at a joint news conference in Abuja rejected calls by concerned Nigerians and three governors of the ruling All Progressives Congress for the Central Bank of Nigeria to suspend its ongoing Naira redesign policy.
Speaking through their Spokesperson, Kenneth Udeze, who is also the Chairman of Action Alliance, the parties threatened to pull out of the election if the apex bank was forced to succumb to pressure and the ruling party’s alleged blackmail.
Reacting to the threat in a statement issued on Wednesday, President of The Natives, Smart Edwards, condemned their action, saying he doubt if the said political parties exist on the ballot papers.
While describing them as insensitive, Edwards described the threat of the 13 political parties as ‘agents of sabotage which are unmindful of the suffering of the Nigerian masses as a result of CBN current policy.”
According to him, no prominent and well-rooted grassroots party will support a policy implementation that would inflict hardship on Nigerians.
“The citizens who are groaning under the redesigned of Naira policy do not know whether these insensitive political robbers exist on the ballot papers. If they cannot see the pain the entire country is experiencing through the ill motivated sabotage of people’s livelihoods either by the banks, printers or providers of the money, then the relevant of these political parties should be questioned.
“Therefore, the position of these 13 political parties is pointless, shameful and insane. We don’t hope there are Nigerians in these political parties.
“Nigerians are fighting in the banks, attacking themselves on the queues, throwing stones at public buildings, petty traders and commuters are frustrated yet platforms seeking people’s votes are making insensitive statements as regards general elections when citizens are grieving. We make bold to say these political parties are simply insensitive and lack grassroots empathy.
“The outburst of the APC presidential candidate, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, was in line with the yearning of the people across the country and the swift response of both the government and security agencies was a stitch in time.”
Reacting to the threat to boycott the 2023 election, the Director of Media and Publicity for APC Presidential Campaign Council, Bayo Onanuga, labelled the political parties as clowns.
This is even as he believed they are fronting for one or two of the major political parties.
He stated, “They are all surrogates of the opposition. How can you take them serious? Trust me, they are jokers from the PDP or Labour Party. As of today, there are three or four political parties. These ones making noise are just paperweight parties. They know if they don’t participate in any election, nobody will miss them.”
