Buhari insists on visiting Kano despite Ganduje’s objection

DESPITE the objection of Kano State governor, Abdulahi Ganduje, President Muhammadu Buhari is likely to visit the state tomorrow as planned.

Checks revealed that the president is not swayed by the argument the Kano State government is putting up for the postponement of the trip.

Ganduje had during an interactive session with some stakeholders, including scholars, legislators, political leaders and business community in the state at Government House, Kano, revealed the decision to ask the president to defer the visit, saying that the state is deeply concerned by the hard- ship principally induced by the ongoing cash swap from old to redesigned notes.

He said the decision was taken to avoid any unforeseen circumstance.

Consequently, the state government wrote a letter to the president outlining the reasons why the planned visit is no longer auspicious at this time.

According to a press statement issued by Abba Anwar, the Chief press Secretary to the governor, the decision to advise the president against the visit was endorsed by the stakeholders in the state.

The statement by the governor’s spokesman reads in part: “Deeply concerned with the hardship caused by limited time given for halting use of old Naira notes by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), and for security reasons, Governor Ganduje reveals that the state resolved and wrote to Presidency that the visit of the president to com- mission some projects be postponed.

“As we are waiting for this important visit, we found ourselves in this situation, which puts citizens into untold hardship. For security purpose, we wrote to Presidency that President Buhari’s visit to Kano be postponed.

“We got an acknowledgement copy of the letter. People are real- ly suffering because of this policy.

“There are no banks in most of our rural communities. How these people get new Naira notes is of great concern. Just look at what is happening in our urban areas, people go and spend hours upon hours in banks and without any as- surances of getting the new notes.”

However, Sunday Tribune gathered that Buhari has insisted on going to Kano as planned because, beyond the state government projects that were slated to be inaugurated by him, some projects executed by the Federal Government are also scheduled to be inaugurated during the visit.

The president has decided that he will go ahead and inaugurate the Federal Government projects.

His advance team is already in the state and as of Saturday night had not been directed to stand down and return to Abuja.

A Presidency source affirmed that “if the Kano governor realises the nature of President Buhari, he would have known that he is not one to give in to cheap blackmail.”

Buhari, who has been in Daura, Katsina State for some days now to commission projects executed by the Governor Aminu Masari administration, is also scheduled to proceed to Jigawa State for a similar engagement before returning to Abuja later in the week.