Buhari insists on visiting Kano despite Ganduje’s objection

DESPITE the objection of Kano State Governor Abdulahi Ganduje, President Muhammadu Buhari will probably visit the state tomorrow as planned.

Checks showed that the president is not swayed by the argument used by the Kano State government to postpone the trip.

Ganduje revealed the decision to ask the president to postpone the visit, during an interactive session with some stakeholders including scientists, legislators, political leaders and business in the state at Government House, Kano, saying that the state is deeply concerned is about the adversity mainly caused by the ongoing cash swap from old to redesigned banknotes.

He said the decision was made to avoid unforeseen circumstances.

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

According to a press statement by Abba Anwar, the governor’s chief press secretary, the decision to discourage the president from visiting was endorsed by stakeholders in the state.

The statement by the governor’s spokesman reads in part: “Deeply concerned about the hardship caused by the limited time given by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) for the cessation of the use of old Naira notes, and for security reasons , Governor Ganduje reveals that the state has decided and wrote to the presidency that the visit of the president to order some projects will be postponed.

“While waiting for this important visit, we found ourselves in this situation, which puts citizens in untold difficulties. For security reasons, we wrote to the Presidency that President Buhari’s visit to Kano would be postponed.

“We have received an acknowledgment of receipt of the letter. People are really suffering from this policy.

“There are no banks in most of our rural communities. How these people get new Naira notes is a big concern. Just look at what is happening in our urban areas, people spend hours and hours in banks and have no assurance that they will get the new banknotes.”

However, Sunday Tribune has learned that Buhari has been pushing to go to Kano as planned because in addition to the state government projects that would be inaugurated by him, some projects being carried out by the federal government are also scheduled to open during the visit to be inaugurated.

The president has decided that he will go ahead and dedicate the federal government’s projects.

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

A presidency source confirmed that “if the governor of Kano realizes 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 several days to give assignments to projects being carried out by the government of Governor Aminu Masari, will also head to Jigawa State for a similar assignment before returning later in the week to Abuja.