By: Armsfree Ajanaku and Dorcas Ajala
- Demands Compensation for Nigerians Affected by CBN’s Cashless Policy
Considering the mind-boggling scale of violence unleashed on voters during the 2023 general elections, a civic advocacy group, the Resource Centre for Human Rights & Civic Education (CHRICED) has called on voters affected to approach national and international human rights bodies to seek redress and hold those responsible accountable. CHRICED Executive Director, Comrade Dr. Ibrahim M. Zikirullahi gave the charge on Wednesday at a Press Conference on the State of the Nation. He said in the build up to the elections, citizens were hopeful that the process will provide them the opportunity to reset the democratic process and enthrone good governance in their country. These high hopes and expectations, the CHRICED helmsman noted were dashed because violence was used to subvert the will of many Nigeria.
He said: “Sadly, while citizens were determined to participate in the process, desperate political actors in many regions of the country prevented the free and seamless expression of the people’s supreme will. We saw worrisome situations of organized criminal attempts to prevent eligible voters from exercising their democratic rights.
“There were also cases of attacks on polling units and the destruction of electoral materials. Even journalists covering the elections were not spared, as some targeted media personnel were brutalized, and their equipment destroyed. These violations, to the extent that they affected Nigerians, require an immediate response from the authorities. CHRICED believe strongly that it is never too late to investigate, apprehend, and prosecute the brigands and their backers for the crime of violently subverting the vote of the Nigerian people.”
Comrade Zikirullahi stressed that even if only one Nigerian is violently denied the right to exercise his/her right to vote, the Nigerian State owes that citizen the duty to ensure that the perpetrators of those acts of violent suppression of the vote are held accountable and brought to justice. He lamented that the gang of criminals and thugs who assaulted and threatened voters on Election Day are still at walking scot-free.
“Therefore, in the face of the blatant refusal of the State to take action against the perpetrators of all the criminal acts, which were committed on Election Day, CHRICED calls on citizens to take action in the forms of sending petitions to national and international bodies, especially where perpetrators of such acts have been properly identified.” CHRICED similarly bemoaned the situation wherein only 24.9 million Nigerians voted in the Presidential and National Assembly elections on February 25, 2023. He said despite the fact that there were more than 93.46 million registered voters and 87 million who collected their Permanent Voter Card (PVC), it is a major disappointment less than 25million voted in the polls. “This implies that Nigeria is experiencing a democratic decline due to the declining voter turnout. This calls for urgent steps to fix the flaws ailing our democracy,” he said.
On what he described as the heavily battered and tattered state of the Nigerian economy, Comrade Zikirullahi said the Nigerian people have been passing through terrible times due to bad policies being implemented by the government. He said based on the level of pains and sufferings experienced by the ordinary citizens as a result of the cashless policy, there is a need for the most affected citizens to be compensated. He said: “For an economy, which has barely recovered from the devastation imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic, and two recessions, no reasonable Nigerian would have expected economic measures that would cause further disruption and impoverishment of citizens.
“Sadly, President Muhammadu Buhari and Central Bank Governor Godwin Emefiele insisted on inflicting immeasurable suffering on the Nigerian people in the name of the infamous Naira redesign and cashless policy. It became impossible for Nigerians to access their own money for the first time in recent memory. Consequently, numerous businesses that were already operating in a hostile environment failed. Unfortunately, the businesses in the informal sector have been hit the hardest; the lack of cash meant that these businesses were entirely wiped out, leaving many more Nigerians without jobs and livelihood opportunities.”
According to the rights group, the CBN should be held accountable for every Nigerian life lost during the cash shortage. He said the plight of numerous Nigerians who lost loved ones because they lacked the cash to pay their medical bills cannot be overlooked. His words: “We cannot also overlook the men and women whose farm produce rotted due to a lack of customers with cash to purchase it. We also cannot ignore our countrymen in the rural areas who wailed in anguish and endured the pangs of hunger for weeks because a handful of individuals in Abuja decided to implement a poorly conceived and poorly digested policy. CHRICED demands reasonable compensation for these groups of citizens who have suffered so much due to the cashless policy,” Zikirullahi said.
