The camp of All Progressives Congress presidential candidate Bola Tinubu has refuted the Peoples Democratic Party’s claim that he is stockpiling billions of new notes in certain states ahead of the general elections.
This was revealed in a statement issued by Tinubu’s Special Adviser on Media and Public Affairs, Mahmud Jega, on Monday in Abuja.
The reaction came just hours after the PDP, through its National Publicity Secretary, Debo Ologunagba, urged Tinubu and the governors of APC states to release the billions of new notes allegedly in their possession.
Ologunagba accused the ruling APC and its presidential candidate of attempting to sabotage the system by diverting funds when they could not win the upcoming election.
While describing the allegation as baseless and devilish, Jega stated that Nigerians identify Tinubu as the “champion of the voiceless and underprivileged,” as evidenced by his challenge to the Central Bank of Nigeria to extend the deadline and end public suffering.
This comes as he explains that some of the recent propaganda directed at the APC was created by paid PDP agents living outside the country.
“Atiku Abubakar’s Peoples Democratic Party has drawn our attention to the irresponsible and infantile allegation, claiming that our presidential candidate, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, is mopping up new naira notes to buy votes,” the statement said in part.”
“The allegation is simply ludicrous, spurious, and a desperate attempt to divert public attention from the anti-people posturing of the PDP candidate, after he and Labour Party candidate, Peter Obi asked the Central Bank of Nigeria not to extend the deadline for the use of old naira notes.”
“They took the position despite the pains our compatriots are experiencing. They actively promoted the sanctity of the deadline in the calculated hope of reaping a political windfall from the people’s suffering.”
“We want to assure Nigerians that claim is utterly false. Also spurious, devilish, and unconscionable is the claim by two UK-based Nigerians, one Bulama Bukarta and one Jafar Jafar, that the currency change was made because Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu stockpiled billions of naira in every state with the intention of vote buying.”
“There is no iota of truth in this claim which was concocted for mischievous and devilish purposes by these PDP agents. The duo claimed they “heard” the “information” from “knowledgeable sources.” These “sources” clearly exist only in the partisan imagination of Bulama Bukarti and Jafar Jafar.”
Jega lamented the duo made the serious allegation recklessly and without evidence, believing that because they live in the UK, they are immune from Nigerian defamation laws.
As a result, he urged Nigerians to disregard the allegations leveled by the PDP and its agents while remaining confident that Tinubu and his running mate, Senator Kashim Shettima, would deliver a landslide victory at the polls.
