Weekly Recap: Buhari vs APC Governors, CBN’s bombshell, raging protests

The week started and sadly, ended with a lot of frustration for many Nigerians. As access to the new Naira notes continue to prove difficult, protests set in, in some parts of the country. Naira crisis: Protests rock Rivers, Lagos, Ogun, Oyo as hoodlums destroy banks Naira crisis: Commuters stranded as protesters turn Lagos-Abeokuta Expressway […]

The week started and sadly, ended with a lot of frustration for many Nigerians.

As access to the new Naira notes continue to prove difficult, protests set in, in some parts of the country.

• Naira crisis: Protests rock Rivers, Lagos, Ogun, Oyo as hoodlums destroy banks
• Naira crisis: Commuters stranded as protesters turn Lagos-Abeokuta Expressway to football pitch

In Kaduna and Kano, Governors attempted to run parallel states. The supreme Court had earlier ruled that the old notes should remain legal tender. But President Muhammadu Buhari said only old N200 notes should be used for transactions, while N500 and N1000 notes should be taken to the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).

While El-Rufai asked Kaduna residents to continue using the old notes in defiance to the president, Ganduje accused Buhari of attempting to truncate democracy.

In far away Kogi State however, Yahaya Bello had no time to make good on his threats as the EFCC closed in on his nephew and his wife on charges of alleged money laundering.

Still on N200 notes, who would have thought it would make a comeback?

In the middle of crisis and commotion at CBN office, the apex bank issued a directive for persons and businesses to deposit their old naira notes at commercial banks. Based on this directive, some banks issued a notice to customers to come with their old notes. Nigerians started to jubilate but it was short lived.

The CBN retracted its directive and insisted that deposit of old notes be made to only the apex bank.

Rather than clear the air, the CBN chose to accuse the media of falsehood, thankfully the media found a way to redeem itself.

Below are pictures from the protests that ensued over the week;

In Edo, at least four persons were killed during protests outside the office of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) in the state capital.

Pictures from Delta

In Benue

In Ondo

It’s election and we hope that the nation experiences peace.