By G9ija

The PDP has accused the APC and its presidential candidate Bola Tinubu of intending to exchange N22.5 billion worth of old currency notes for new ones in Kano State.

Debo Ologunagba, the National Publicity Secretary of the PDP, said in a statement that the exchange of N22.5 billion in old naira notes for new ones in Kano State is a desperate effort by the APC to carry out vote-buying during the elections.

Ologunagba added that information obtained by the PDP suggests that the APC, which is responsible for the current cash shortage, is coordinating the exchange in the North West region of the country with the help of two APC governors who have publicly expressed their concern about the cash crunch.

Furthermore, the PDP has alleged that there is evidence that the APC has made arrangements to move a significant portion of the old naira notes from Kano to Lagos State in the coming days to exchange them for new notes.

“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 actualise the vote buying plot,” Ologunagba said.

The PDP has warned security agencies and the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) about this harmful activity by the APC leaders, which it claims is causing difficulty for the Nigerian people.

Ologunagba added: “Our party demands an immediate action to stop APC in this criminal act as well as to recover the money and make the new Naira notes available to the public.”

However, the APC PCC’s Director of Media and Publicity, Bayo Onanuga, responded to the PDP’s claims by saying that simply making baseless accusations in press releases is not enough. He challenged the PDP to provide evidence for their claims and stated that making unfounded allegations has become a regular occurrence in the PDP’s campaign strategy.

Onanuga noted: “Let them provide the evidence if they uncovered such. It is not enough to dish out cock and bull stories in the name of press releases. Making senseless allegations every passing day, which has become the hallmark of PDP campaign is not how to win election.

“Nigerians cannot be deceived by a party of looters. Nigerians can’t forget a party of people that looted over $2 billion dollars meant for arms procurement, when Boko Haram was killing our citizens and almost took over three states in the north east.

“We challenge PDP to bring out any evidence of their latest allegation otherwise the party of looters should hide its ugly face in perpetual shame.”