“Thirteen” out of the 18 political parties in Nigeria have threatened to withdraw from the forthcoming elections.
Gatekeepers News reports that the thirteen parties threatened to pull out of the February 25 and March 11 general elections over the naira redesign policy of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).
This was disclosed at a briefing by a coalition of chairmen of political parties on Monday.
The “13 parties” commended President Muhammadu Buhari on the redesign of the N200, N500, and N1,000 banknotes.
The parties noted that they won’t be interested in the elections if the new deadline of February 10, 2023, is shifted as demanded by some governors of the All Progressives Congress (APC).
The “13 parties” further condemned the Kaduna, Kogi, and Zamfara State Governments for heading to the Supreme Court to get court injunction to extend the deadline for the validity of three old notes.
The National Chairman of the Action Alliance, Kenneth Udeze, while briefing journalists said, “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 policies are suspended or cancelled or if the deadline is further shifted.”
On October 26, 2022, the apex bank announced its plan to redesign the three banknotes. Subsequently, the President unveiled the redesigned N200, N500, and N1,000 notes on November 23, 2022, while the CBN fixed a January 31 deadline for the validity of the old notes.
However, scarcity of the new naira notes, and cries by many Nigerians, saw the CBN extend the deadline from January 31 to February 10.
On Friday, Buhari after a meeting with some APC governors asked for seven days to make a major decision on the policy.
