From Charity Nwakaudu, Abuja
The Presidential Candidate of African Democratic Congress (ADC) Dumebi Kachikwu has appealed to President Muhammadu Buhari to obey the judgement of the supreme court on naira swap to end the sufferings of Nigerians caused by scarcity of naira.
Kachikwu made this plead at a world press conference held in Abuja, on Friday.
He added that the present government need to be careful so that the desperation to stop a particular candidate don’t lead the nation to a state of anarchy.
” I again warn that the desperation to stop Asiwaju Tinubu should not plunge Nigeria into a state of anarchy. It is heart-breaking to see that Nigerians have died, banks burnt, properties destroyed and millions suffering as they desperate try to access an unavailable naira.
Tens of millions of Nigerians operate within the informal sector and earn daily wages between N500 to N10,000 in cash. Most of them live in unbanked or underbanked parts of Nigeria and they now bear the brunt of this ill-conceived policy. Don’t we have any conscience as leaders? How do we go to bed at night knowing that Nigerians are queuing outside banks all through the night just to get N5000?
Poor Nigerians bear the burden of the failures associated with this recolouring. We now watch as mayhem spreads across our cities and convince ourselves that this is a price worth paying as long as it benefits the candidate of our choice. This is evil. Nigerians shouldn’t have to die because politicians are fighting for the soul of our nation.
I appeal to President Buhari, please obey the Supreme Court judgement and put an end to the suffering of Nigerians. For a President who continues to say he is fighting corruption, he must understand that impeding, interfering or obstructing the chances of targeted candidates in an election also amounts to corruption. Nigerians deserve free and fair elections. Candidates deserve to run their race free of state actors bullying or obstructing them.”
Speaking on the kind of leaders to be elected,he said any candidate running under the platform of tribe and religion is not fit to become the next president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
“I entered this race when it became clear to me that Okowa wouldn’t run and Osinbajo would fail to emerge as the APC candidate. The Labour candidate has failed to proffer solutions on the myriad issues that plague our nation and instead has ridden on the divisive platform of tribe, tongue and religion.
In addition to being able to identify, understand and proffer solutions to our many problems, I am running for office because I strongly believe that tribe, tongue and religion should no longer play a role in our politics or in governance. Tribe and religion have destroyed Nigeria for too long.
We can’t continue to speak about corruption and fail to see that tribe, tongue and religion are the bedrock of corruption in a multi-plural and multi-ethnic society. Any candidate who runs on this divisive and destructive platform of tribe, tongue and religion should never be supported to emerge as President of Nigeria, he said.