Protesting In Naira By Suing For Peace And Meeting Rulers

Following the cash crunch-related demonstrations that erupted in Abeokuta, Ogun State, on Tuesday, Governor Dapo Abiodun has urged the demonstrators to disperse and give his engagements with the Bankers Forum and the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) time to bear fruit.

Abiodun said that “CBN is trying its best” to control the issue at the statutory meeting of the Council of Obas at the Oba’s Complex, Oke-Mosan, Abeokuta.

In order to end the problem, the governor said that the issue was being addressed at the highest level with President Muhammadu Buhari and the governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Godwin Emefiele.

He remembered that governors from the All Progressives Congress (APC) had met with Buhari and pleaded for the old naira notes to continue to be accepted as legal money alongside the newly designed currency while the cash problem was being resolved.

The governor urged restraint while claiming that the demonstrators’ opinions had been heard clearly.

In his own words: “I urge our young to stop participating in public demonstrations and work constructively with government to find answers.

After hearing from many worried Nigerians and holding several meetings with Buhari, Emefiele, and security chiefs, along with my brother governors, about the difficulties, sufferings, and pains being experienced over this cash shortage caused by the redesigning of our currency, it has become necessary to make a formal appeal to all parties involved.

He said: “I understand the frustration, disappointment of our citizens queuing at Automated Teller Machines (ATMs), waiting to cash money for hours, or entering banking halls only to be turned away or given so little that is not enough to meet their immediate needs.” He added that he had personally engaged the CBN controller in Abeokuta and other bank managers to seek relief on the amounts citizens could withdraw.