Governor of Nasarawa State, Abdullahi Sule, speaks on the proposed redesigning of the naira and reactions by Nigerians including that of his Edo State colleague, Godwin Obaseki, and a chieftain of the Labour Party, Prof. Pat Utomi, among other issues in this interview on Channels Television ‘Politics Today’ monitored by Ben Ogbemudia

Your Edo State counterpart, Governor Godwin Obaseki, recently said the country will be divided if the All Progressives Congress (APC) wins the 2023 presidential election, what is your reaction to this comment?

I am not an economist and I think this argument is not between him and political parties but between him and the CBN governor who is the manager of the apex bank. I don’t think it is an argument between the Edo state governor and APC governors. It is an argument between him an economist and another economist managing the central bank of Nigeria. If you look at the points from both sides, the central bank has clearly defined why they are doing this. According to them, that’s so much money in circulation and most of this money is fake and this is an opportunity to mop it up. I remember there was a similar situation during the regime of Buhari/Idiagbon when they said they were changing money because there was so much in the hands of the people. I just returned to Nigeria as a student. That was the time it was happening and I saw the rush. But for my dear brother and friend Governor Obaseki is basing his argument based on the economy, well it is a very difficult argument for me to engage in because I am neither an economist nor an official of the central bank.

Is the redesign politically motivated?

I have not heard his argument apart from the point he mentioned that it is political, in that it is a way of not putting money in the hands of other political parties. It is an economic argument and I am sure he has economic reasons why he is saying so. As I said Governor Obaseki is a very close friend of mine, and I have not had the opportunity of discussing with him. I would have engaged him in a discussion to educate me on the reasons why he said what he said.

Is the CBN action influenced by the APC government?

If you say the policy influences the government, well they have already taken the decision. The presence of Nigeria is not the presence of APC, CPC, or whatever but the presence of Nigeria and they took the policy to him on his position as Nigerian present. It was not brought to the governors to the best of my knowledge, if it was brought, I was not there. What I know about that policy is not more than what I saw on the pages of newspapers.

On the exchange rate of dollar to naira, what are your thoughts?

I am extremely worried about the exchange rate of naira to dollars. Some people are indeed hiding money, it now justifies the point being made by the Central Bank of Nigeria that people are rushing to change the naira.

Are you justifying the redesigning of the naira notes by the Central Bank of Nigeria?

It justifies the point the CBN is making that there is staunch naira being hidden in people’s houses and other places. They are rushing to bring out the naira to exchange it. You can see the point, it is vindicated, and the CBN is correct but again it makes you understand that it worries me because it is not easy with the common man. The common man is undergoing hardship during this period. However, the consolation is that we are hoping that after the madness the exchange rate will come down. When I saw it on Wednesday, it was N818 and that is crazy you know that can happen for the same reason you have just mentioned for the fact that maybe some people have too much at home and they are trying to exchange the naira for dollars.

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Recently, Pat Utomi also spoke on this line of augment, and his party LP, what is your view?

Pat Utomi is a friend, boss, somebody I love, a first-class economist, not a first-class politician. If he had stood for election, he would have been a president. Look, I don’t use to get carried away by what they say. There is a statement you made and I want to make it clear. In the past, the Labour Party has been with Labour itself, NLC, NUT, NURTW, and all others.
Is the Labour Party movement giving you concern?

In Nasarawa State, we are not part of it. All these groups have endorsed APC gubernatorial candidates. They have nothing to do with LP and there is no how we can be threatened by LP. Let me make it clear to you and the result of the election will prove it. Now coming to other things you mentioned, I don’t even know who the LP gubernatorial candidate is in Nasarawa State. Now going back to the presidential election, I lived in America for most of my life. We have seen a lot of polls. Therefore polls are more authentic than what we have here. Most times those polls can’t tell you the fact. It depends on whom you are talking about. The majority of our voters, especially in northern Nigeria, will not be part of that kind of poll and they are in majority. If you are talking about polls from the elite class, they are not given you a real definition of what you are talking about. That is why, threatened, definitely, not, I mean it from the bottom of my heart.