President Buhari Speaks From London On Tinubu’s Candidacy, New Naira Notes

President Muhammadu Buhari yesterday reiterated his support for his party, the All Progressives Congress (APC), saying the party’s presidential candidate Bola Tinubu is a politician of note.

According to him, Tinubu is a very well-known politician in the country, and he is running on a record as a two-term governor of the most resourceful and most visited state in the country.

The president, who told this to Nigerian Television Authority (NTA) in London, United Kingdom (UK) yesterday said he thinks the party was lucky to get Tinubu to accept to be its presidential candidate because his record of achievements is verifiable.

President Buhari, who is the party’s Presidential Campaign Council (PCC), chairman, however, reiterated his government’s resolve to conduct a free and fair election next year.

He maintained that his administration would do all in its power to block moneybags from bringing money from outside the system to manipulate and compromise the process.

Speaking about chances of his party emerging as the winner in next year’s presidential election, the president noted that “What are the chances of my party winning the election? We are going to the elections. Tinubu, the presidential candidate, is a very well-known politician in the country.

“He (Tinubu) was a two-term governor in his state, Lagos; resource-wise, the most resourceful state and the most visited state. So, I think the party was lucky to get him to accept to be its candidate.

My aim is to make sure that Nigerians believe that we respect them as an administration. So, Nigerians should vote for whoever they like, from whichever party. Nobody will be allowed to mobilize resources and thugs to intimidate people in any constituency.

“This is what I want to go down into Nigeria’s history for me as a leader.”

Meanwhile, the president also disclose yesterday that there was no going back on the decision plan to redesign the N1000, N500, and N200 naira notes.

According to him, the time frame given to rolling out the new notes were long enough for Nigerians to return their old notes to the banks before the year runs out.

He said he supports the Central Bank Governor (CBN) Godwin Emefiele‘s explanation that the move would tackle the rising inflation in the country as well as revive the economy.

The president pointed out that “The Governor of the Central Bank convinced me that there is a need to change it and I agree with him. Time has been given from October to December 31. Three months is enough for whatever money you have to get it changed through a legal system. So, I don’t know why people are complaining about it. There’s no going back. No, no going back.”