The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has said that it uncovered an alleged plot by the All Progressives Congress (APC) leaders led by its presidential candidate, Bola Tinubu, to exchange N22.5 billion stashed old Naira notes in Kano State for new ones to carry out vote buying during the general elections.
The PDP in a statement by its spokesman, Debo Ologunagba, said information available to the party revealed that the criminal act by the APC was responsible for the biting cash scarcity and was being coordinated in the North-West region by two APC state governors.
The statement reads: “The PDP has been made aware that the N22.5 billion in old N1000 notes was allegedly kept in a Kano State Government facility before being moved to a particular old generation and a certain new generation bank where the regional heads were contacted by the APC Presidential Campaign to swap the old notes with new ones.
“Further information revealed that the cash is being warehoused by the Tinubu Campaign for vote buying in Kano, Kaduna, Bauchi, Jigawa and Sokoto States. A particular APC State governor is reported to have taken delivery of N500 million new Naira notes to actualize the vote buying plot.
“Also, there is intelligence that arrangement has been concluded by APC leaders to move a substantial part of the old naira notes from Kano to Lagos State between today and tomorrow for the purposes of swapping them with new ones.
“It would be recalled that the PDP had earlier alerted Nigerians that corrupt APC leaders are compromising the system to mop up the new bank notes for their selfish vote-buying plans ahead of the February 25 presidential election.”
“The party alerts the security agencies and the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) of this nefarious activity by APC leaders which is bringing untold hardship to Nigerians,” the PDP statement added.
The opposition party demanded that the APC stop “this criminal act,” recover the money, and make the new Naira notes available to the public.”
The PDP urged all Nigerians to stand firm against the APC’s heinous attempt to buy their conscience and subject them to another harrowing tenure of killings, violence, kidnapping, and economic hardship that has become the APC administration’s hallmark over the last seven and a half years.