THE Speaker the House of Honourable Femi Gbajabiamila has unveiled plans to reconvene the House before the February 25 general elections if the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) fails to address the hardships Nigerians face due to the currency swap policy.
Gbajabiamila disclosed this during a town hall meeting with some ethnic groups in Surulere, Lagos State.
He said he was at the verge of signing an arrest warrant against the CBN Governor following his initial failure to appear before an ad hoc panel of the House.
He maintained that the House would continue to monitor the CBN’s implementation of the policy closely following its meeting with the CBN governor, Godwin Emefiele, on the issue.
“So, we are watching, and we are monitoring very closely. If the need be, we will reconvene the House, even though we’ve all been away for our elections. I will call the House back, if the need be,” he said.
Gbajabiamila also said that amidst the ongoing hardship, the presidential candidate of All Progressives Congress (APC), Senator Bola Ahmed Tinubu, has identified with Nigerians and faulted the implementation of the policy at this time, which necessitated the extension of the deadline for the collection of the old currency.
“On the currency swap, let me explain something to you. We are all very intelligent people. Many are suffering, we have paid your salary, and you cannot withdraw it; people cannot eat, what kind of thing is that?
“But I have news for you. There’s one man who is running for President of this country, and that man has courage and audacity.
“This man came out boldly and identified the problem, that the fifth columnists, in cooperation with the PDP are the ones trying to sabotage this election.
“Many have said he’s talking about Buhari, but he told them ‘no, l’m not talking about Buhari; I’m talking about fifth columnists.’
“If you don’t know the meaning of fifth colum-nists, go and check your dictionary. Fifth columnists infiltrate people, they even infiltrate families, and otherwise how do you explain this type of policy?
“The President, being a compassionate person that he is, has asked for a few more days to look at everything that is going on and see if anything could change.
“We pray that things will change. If nothing changes, we will intervene again, but be sure of one thing: that Asiwaiu Bola Ahmed Tinubu stands with you and stands with Nigerians in their suffering,” he added.
