Governor Abdullahi Ganduje has threatened to destroy any commercial bank in Kano that refuses to accept deposits of old N500 and N1,000 notes.
The governor made the threat on Friday while inspecting palliatives provided to residents in the state to cushion the effect of naira scarcity induced by naira redesign policy of President Muhammadu Buhari regime.
“Any bank that refuses to accept old five hundred and one thousand Naira notes will be destroyed. We will not tolerate such disobedience from any financial institution operating within our jurisdiction,” Mr Ganduje said.
“We will convert the space of the destroyed banks into schools that will provide quality education for our children,” the governor added.
Governor Ganduje’s threat to commercial banks comes hours after the police warned that anyone attacking banks in protest will be treated as an armed robber.
Mr Ganduje’s threat contradicts the naira redesign policy that has made old N500 and N1,000 no longer legal tender in Nigeria.
On Thursday, Mr Ganduje had faulted the naira redesign policy, berating Mr Buhari regime for achieving nothing in eight years, and plotting to destroy the All Progressives Congress (APC) that made him president.
But Mr Buhari regime, through its spokesperson Garba Shehu on Friday, has insisted that the policy has no political undertone but targetted at helping Nigerians elect a president of their choice.
