Just in: President Buhari in closed-door meeting with Emefiele, Nigeria Governors’ Forum, APC Governors’ chairmen, others

President Muhammadu Buhari on Tuesday met with the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Mr Godwin Emefiele, the Chairman of the Nigeria Governors’ Forum and Sokoto State Governor, Aminu Tambuwal and the Chairman of the APC Governors, Atiku Bagudu of Kebbi State, at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, as part of desperate efforts to address the lingering scarcity of the new naira notes,

Also in attendance at the meeting were the Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Mr Abdulrasheed Bawa and the Chief of Defence Staff, Lt -Gen. Lucky Irabor.

Reports said that the meeting, earlier scheduled with the Nigerian Governors’ Forum, was cancelled at the last minute without any explanation.

The cancellation, as reported, might not be unconnected with the court order asking both the federal government and the CBN not to extend the February 10, 2023 deadline for the swapping of three old naira notes.

The order subsists till the next seven days in the first instance.

On February 3, President Buhari had met with APC governors with some of them asking him to intervene and allow both the old and the new notes to circulate for six months to ease the current cash crunch across the country.

None of the attendees at the meeting have yet to speak with journalists while the president’s media aides have not released a statement on the outcome of the meeting.