Bayelsa State Government has demanded unreserved apology from a group of Civil Society Organisations (CSOs), under the aegis of the Civil Society Organisations Central Coordinating Council, overwhat it described as false allegation against Governor Douye Diri.
The CSOs through a member, Gabriel Ojemena, alleged, at a press conference in Abuja, on Tuesday, that Diri was among a group of 10 governors (G-10) opposing President Muhammadu Buhari on the naira redesign policy of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).
The CSOs also claimed the 10 governors were disrespectful of Mr. President and planning to make the country ungovernable if the policy was not reversed.
But the Bayelsa State Commissioner for Information, Orientation and Strategy, Ayibaina Duba, in a statement, said the allegations were not only unfounded and baseless but also annoying and provocative.
“It is even more ridiculous and insensitive coming at a time the governor is mourning the passing of his father.
“The government is, particularly, dismayed that CSOs that should be better informed are yielding themselves as agent-provocateur to misinform Nigerians.
“The government urges the CSOs to go and study the papers that some states filed at the Supreme Court on the new notes suit instead of spreading falsehood.”
He stressed that Diri is not opposed to naira re-design policy of the CBN or the Federal Government, saying he is opposed to the hardship the implementation of the policy has visited on Nigerians.
He recalled that Diri spoke publicly for the first time about the policy a week ago at the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Kaduna South senatorial campaign launch at Zonkwa in Zangon Kataf Council of Kaduna State and that his comments in support of the policy were unflattering and unambiguous.
The commissioner quoted Diri as saying at the rally: “We have to reset this country. The way the country is going is not about religion and ethnicity. It is about a few people that have taken the wealth of this country to themselves.
“While we are not in support of the common man suffering as a result of the sudden CBN policy, that policy will change not only our currency but our attitude towards everything as leaders.
“While we plead with the CBN to ensure our people do not suffer, the other side, those of them who have bullion vans, who are prepared to buy over the presidency, the CBN policy is Holy Ghost fire on them. That is why they are shouting. Why are they shouting as if it affects them more than us?”
The quotes as published in a national daily, according to the commissioner, not only summed up the governor’s position but also reinforced the CBN’s stand on the policy.
