According to Senior Advocate of Nigeria Muiz Banire, the governors’ insistence on the continued use of all old naira notes as legal tender is an attempt to buy votes.
In order to “purchase voters’ conscience,” according to Banire, the governors planned to deceive the public into accepting the “already stocked old notes in their custody.”
“A lot of us might not understand why the Governors are insisting on the old notes being legal tender,” the SAN wrote. “Certainly, it is not that they don’t know that they do not have the power to declare what is legal tender, neither did they not know that [they] … lack the capacity to enforce any Supreme Court judgment.
He claimed that their true intentions were to deceive naïve prospective voters into taking the already stocked old notes in their possession in order to buy voters’ conscience.
Banire advised people to demand “the true legal tender as stated by the apex bank” in all cases
In his letter, he advised prospective voters to either insist on the real legal cash declared by the apex bank or use any other form of payment they found acceptable.
But he cautioned, “Your conscience is not worth purchasing; if you must collect the money, which is primarily taken from the Treasury, insist on acceptable legal tender and still vote your conscience.
