A few days before the 2023 general election, Ado Doguwa, the Majority Leader of the House of Representatives said he needs N70 million in “hard copy” to prosecute the polls.
Doguwa lamented that the naira scarcity caused by the new policy would affect the electioneering expenses of politicians.
The lawmaker expressed his reservation over the new naira policy after a meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari at the Presidential Villa, on Thursday.
He lamented that the new policy is affecting the All Progressives Congress, APC.
Making reference to Section 88(4) of the Electoral Act, Doguwa said: “I need to have this N70m in hard copy. That is the position of the law and as I speak to you, I don’t have it.”
The lawmaker stressed that all politicians, irrespective of political affiliations, would be affected by the new policy.
“And don’t forget the point I made as a partisan member that the policy in itself is against the ruling party because Nigerians that are not happy will look at it as a policy of the government of the APC.
“30-40 days to elections you come out with a policy that is not widely accepted by Nigerians and whether we like it or not that will be seen as the program of the government. So those of us in the APC are not happy about it,” Doguwa said.
Following the outcry that greeted the redesign of some denominations of the naira, President Muhammadu Buhari ordered the recirculation of N200 notes.
