The Pan-Yoruba socio-political organisation, Afenifere on Monday warned that there must be no change in this year’s elections and the handover dates.
Afenifere handed down the warning in a statement by its National Secretary Comrade Jare Ajayi on the state of the nation.
The pan Yoruba socio political organisation tasked government and all the stakeholders on ensuring that there is no change in the February 25 and March 11 election dates as well as the May 29, 2023 handover dates.
Afenifere said, “the sacrosancy of February/March elections became imperative partly due to the alarm note sounded by the spokesman of Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF), Dr. Hakeem Baba-Hamed, of the possibility of using the court to thwart the election process as well as difficulties being inflicted on Nigerians whose consequences may be used as excuse to jeopardise the ongoing civil rule”.
Afenifere further stated that it “is on the same page with ACF in its warning that “Nigerians will not accept to live under any arrangement that offends the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria”.
“The contrived pains can be seen in the unabated insecurity, heightened difficulties in getting fuel, in getting new Naira notes and in getting other energy sources such as electricity, gas, kerosene and diesel. If the difficulties being experienced in these areas continued and Nigerians begin to react, their (peaceful) expression of frustration may be used as an excuse to want to tinker with the democratic experiment going on. Such would not be acceptable in any way”, it said.
On the trauma that Nigerians are being made to pass through before the announcement of the extension of deadline in currency notes’ swap from January 31 to February 10 by the CBN Governor, Afenifere noted that it was “symptomatic of government’s penchant for making the people go through avoidable pains.”
“From the beginning of January this year, Nigerians have been calling on the CBN to extend the deadline. The calls were predicated on the non-availability of new naira notes and the impossibility of being able to have the ones on hand swapped for the new ones before the expiration of the deadline on January 31. The new notes were difficult to obtain either inside the banks, on the Automated Teller Machines (ATMs) or from the POS.”
The group commended the eventual shift of the new naira swap deadline to February 10 by the CBN, while asserting that the pains and losses suffered by Nigerians last week would have been avoided were the extension of the deadline announced much earlier.
