For the second time in about a week, protest rocked Ogun state over the naira scarcity, with viral video showing Keystone and Union Bank razed in Sagamu.
Just last Friday, some protesters barricaded the Mowe end of the town over naira scarcity, causing some momentary confusion.
However, the state government put the number of the affected banks at four.
In the video, the aggrieved bank customers were seen raising bonfires and barricading the Sagamu-Benin expressway, thus halting human and vehicular movements.
Blueprint reports that violence broke out early in the morning following alleged stoppage of the banks’ operations when the Automated Teller Machines (ATMs) were reported to have stopped working.
Residents stood at a distance watching the protesters set the banks ablaze, while some youth were carrying planks and cudgels to further demonstrate their angst.
The development forced banks and other businesses to shut down while markets were deserted, thus creating panic among residents.
Appeal and blame game
The development has continued to generate a blame game of sort between the ruling All Progressives Congress(APC) and the opposition Peoples Democratic party(PDP), even as the Akarigbo of Remo, Oba Babatunde Ajayi, pleaded for clam.
In a reaction, the Ogun state government described the violent protest as being politically motivated, blaming the arson on the opposition PDP.
In a statement Monday, Chief Press Secretary to the governor, Kunle Somorin, said some PDP candidates were seen leading the protest which left several innocent citizens injured, and infrastructures destroyed.
He said: “Early this morning (Monday), a politically motivated violent protest took place in Sagamu, during which innocent people were attacked, while banks and public infrastructures were destroyed and razed down by fire.
“We were reliably informed that some disgruntled members of the opposition party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), whose members and some of the party’s candidates were seen leading the demonstration.
“While the protests were purportedly against the “scarcity of naira notes”, the real intention of these elements became obvious with the involvement of known PDP members.
“The Governor of Ogun State, Prince Dapo Abiodun, has been on top of the fallouts of the naira re-design issues. The Governor had visited the Central Bank headquarters in Abeokuta and some other commercial banks’ branches, made a state broadcast and empathised with the people with a reassurance that efforts are on to ameliorate the negative impacts of the controversial policy on the people. Ogun State is also one of the states that has taken the Federal Government to court on the naira swap policy.
“Attacks on innocent people and the destruction of private and public properties cannot solve the current problem but will rather worsen the situation. Therefore, we must not allow desperate politicians to mislead members of the public and use them as cannons to vent frustration.”
PDP
But one of the PDP candidate fingered in the protest, Hon. Bola Oluwole; has described the allegation as one targeted at smearing his image ahead of the general elections.
Oluwole, who is gunning to represent Remo Federal Constituency, stated that he’s not in any way connected to the protest, which according to him, was a response of angry Nigerians against the economic hardship in the country.
The PDP chieftain said: “I want to say it in strong terms that I am not in anyway connected to the protest, Nigerians are only angered by the economic hardships in the country and their inability to access their hard earn money and the fuel scarcity.
“The APC – led government should address the situation rather than shifting the blame to innocent Nigerians.”
Police
And rising to the occasion, the Police Public Relations Officers (PPRO), SP Abimbola Oyeyemi; said about 30 suspects were arrested and transferred to the State Criminal Investigation Departments on the order of the Commissioner of Police, Frank Mba.
Oyeyemi said total normalcy has however been restored in greater parts of Sagamu, just as the combined team of police and military men were on ground to further monitor the situation.
Monarch calls for calm
Amidst all this, the Akarigbo Remo has called for calm.
In a statement from the palace, the monarch said: “I appeal to all to remain calm and peaceful as we continue to engage the Federal Government.
“This policy is not from the state or local government. Therefore, the destruction of lives and properties will only compound an already bad situation.
“I urge our people to continue to accept the old notes in line with the Supreme Court ruling. No person who accepts the old notes would lose out. I can assure you of that, and please hold on to that promise.
“Further, I am also mandating all our market people to continue to accept the old notes. I hereby undertake that no one will lose out for possessing the old notes.”
Malami meets Adamu, APC govs
Meanwhile, ahead of Wednesday’s hearing into the naira saga at the Supreme Court, the APC National Chairman, Senator Abdullahi Adamu, met with the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami (SAN).
The meeting held at the APC national secretariat Monday in Abuja, also had in attendance the plaintiffs – Governors Nasir el-Rufai of Kaduna state; Yahaya Bello of Kogi state and Bello Matawalle of Zamfara state.
The meeting which lasted barely one hour also had in attendance Chairman Progressive Governors’ Forum and Kebbi state Governor Abubakar Atiku Bagudu.
The ex-parte motion
The three governors had in a motion ex-parte filed February 3 by their lawyer, AbdulHakeem Mustapha, SAN, prayed the apex court to halt the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) from stopping the old currencies of N200, N500 and N1000 February 10 as it earlier declared.
And ruling on the motion, a seven-man panel of the Supreme Court, led by Justice John Okoro, in a unanimous decision, granted their prayers and ordered that the status quo remains.
However, by February 15, several other states applied to join the suit, a development which forced the apex court to fix hearing for Wednesday, February 22, for proper harmonisation of the motion by the plaintiffs.
On Sunday, the ruling party, during a meeting with the governors, joined forces with the plaintiffs to demand that the federal government and the CBN comply with the interim order of the apex court.
The party also asked President Muhammadu Buhari to urgently intervene and halt the current sufferings of the people.
After Malami’s meeting
And the meeting with the AGF, all the parties came out without addressing the media, but when pressed further, Adamu simply said: “There is no issue. We are all on the same page.”
Our correspondent, however, gathered from sources that the APC national leadership was seeking to get the parties to have an ou-of-court settlement.
A senior party official who pleaded anonymity, told one of our correspondents that “APC is one family, hence the need to settle the matter amicably.
“The leadership is doing everything possible to settle the matter because this party is one.”
Adamu on naira scarcity
In a related development, Senator Adamu said the Naira redesign policy was biting hard on Nigerians.
He spoke at a session with a delegation from the Commonwealth Observer Mission,
He said: “As the ruling party, we are very concerned, our reputation, our image is on the line and so we are working to do the best possible in the circumstances we found ourselves today to see that we have a successful outing and that nobody’s liberty is infringed upon.
“We are working to win and we are happy that the youths are sufficiently mobilised and would come out in millions go vote. Our hope is that they will be voting us.
“There are 18 registered political parties and they have the same rights to contest this election. We may beat our chest as the ruling party but that is not to say the other parties at not contesting and we are not underestimating the strength of any party because to do so will be at the expense of the victory we are looking for.
“On foreign intervention, I don’t want to preempt anything but since we are in a bvlovak village, there are bound to be interests here and there. We do hope that since we have grund norms, rules of engagement in politics, the international community also has rules do engagement and our hope and wish is that they will live by that.
“Yes, we are concerned. We are going cashless, we are redesigning and it has coincided with the elections and there have been some hiccups with the implementation of this programme which has really caused a lot of concern down the ladder. We cannot pretend that it is not biting but I think measures are being taken to ameliorate the pains.
Responding, leader of the team, Ambassador Amina Mohammed said: “We are assured with what you have said that the intention is to continuously improve the environment that the elections are held in and that also to make sure that the recommendations that we made in 2019 when our last observer team was here are taken into consideration and that in preparation, you would always look at these recommendations.”
