The Ogun State chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has denied allegations by Governor Dapo Abiodun-led government that it sponsored the violent protest that rocked Sagamu town on Monday.
Protesting youths as a result of the new naira notes went on a rampage, setting ablaze banks and carting away the mace of Sagamu Local Government legislative house.
Abiodun’s Chief Press Secretary, Kunle Somorin accused the PDP of masterminding the crisis.
Reacting, the Ogun PDP blamed the Sagamu riot on a directive by Gov Abiodun that residents should continue to spend the old naira notes despite an order by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and President Muhammadu Buhari that the old N500 and N1000 notes are no more legal tenders.
Addressing a press conference on Tuesday, the PDP State Secretary, Sunday Solarin, dismissed the allegations, saying the refusal of commercial banks to take the old notes from residents despite the governor’s directive might have caused the mayhem.
“Having given the people the old notes and knowing fully well that it will no longer be legal tender and the people went to the bank to see if they could give this money back to the banks and it was blatantly refused, I want to believe that it is the refusal if the banks to collect this money that triggered the riot we witnessed in Sagamu yesterday,” Solarin said.
