A House of Representatives member, Ado Doguwa says the naira crunch will affect the electioneering expenses of politicians, noting that he needs N70m in ‘hard copy’ for the poll.
He disclosed this to statehouse correspondents after a meeting with President Buhari at the Aso Rock villa in Abuja on Thursday, February 16, shortly after President Buhari announced that the old N500 and N1000 notes are no longer legal tenders.
“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 House leader said in reference to Section 88(4) of the Electoral Act which caps election expenses for House of Representatives seats at N70,000,000.” he said.
According to Doguwa, the new monetary policy will affect all politicians running for office irrespective of their party affiliations. According to him, in many places, there are no banks, or ATMs to ensure that party agents and others are paid during the election.
“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. This has placed us at disadvantage already” he said.
He argued that while the move is good, it is ill-timed.
“Some of us see a lot of good things about the policy, but our worry as members of the ruling party is, why now? 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.
