The party in statement issued on, Saturday, which was signed by the presidential campaign spokesperson, Onyinye-Gandhi Chukwunyere, described the crises as a deliberate attack on the Nigerian people, while blaming the situation squarely on the President Muhammadu Buhari-led All Progressives Congress (APC), government.
The African Action Congress (AAC), and its presidential candidate, Omoyele Sowore, have unequivocally condemned the currency and fuel shortages now wreaking economic and social havoc across the country.
The party in statement issued on, Saturday, which was signed by the presidential campaign spokesperson, Onyinye-Gandhi Chukwunyere, described the crises as a deliberate attack on the Nigerian people, while blaming the situation squarely on the President Muhammadu Buhari-led All Progressives Congress (APC), government.
"We place the blame squarely on the incompetence and irresponsibility of the Buhari-led APC government. True to its character, this government has precipitated a crisis clearly targeted at deepening the suffering of the Nigerian people whose welfare and security should ordinarily be its priority.
"Against every sane advice, and without the slightest shred of public input, this government launched a wasteful scheme to redesign (read recolour) the national currency purportedly in a bid to trap looted funds stashed outside the financial system, check counterfeits, and restrain politicians from amassing cash to compromise the electoral process.
"These declared objectives notwithstanding, the policy roll-out has proven an unmitigated disaster with ordinary Nigerians now caught in the middle."
AAC and its presidential candidate, however, regretted that Nigerian banks which were hoarding depots for elite wealth had proven to be unwilling or incapable to drive government objectives for the betterment of the Nigerian people.
The party accused the banks of colluding with rouge politicians to horde the limited currency to detriment of the suffering Nigerians.
The statement partly read, "The banks which are little more than hoarding depots for elite wealth have proven utterly unwilling or incapable of driving the government's objectives. They have obviously colluded with rogue politicians and bureaucrats to horde the limited quantity of the new currency injected into the system by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) whose compromised leadership can do very little to compel compliance.
"Banks and Automated Teller Machines (ATMs) all over the country are empty, our people cannot access their meager savings to buy food and other necessities as starvation stares them in the face. A wave of mass anger is sweeping through the country, and chaos looms if the situation is not immediately remedied.
"We believe that, with due diligence and foresight, the government should have deployed a range of liquidity management policy measures, to achieve the objective of reducing monies in circulation for vote-buying in the elections, instead of adopting a poorly thought-out option that merely succeeded in exposing the Nigerian people to needless suffering.
"The government should also have focused on strengthening INEC and the security agencies to enforce our electoral laws by apprehending and punishing vote buyers and other offenders. This has not been the case. The Buhari government has rather put Nigerians through hell than directly confront the rogue politicians in his party and elsewhere."
It added, "Sadly, the desperation occasioned by the chaotic execution of this policy will further make our people vulnerable to the monetary inducement of the same politicians purportedly targeted by the policy. In essence, the Buhari government might end up reinforcing the vice it set out to arrest.
"Meanwhile, even before the start of the currency crisis, Nigerians were already grappling with severe fuel shortages and unofficial but palpable increases in fuel pump price by upwards of 100% in some cases. This condemnable situation has worsened inflation and driven millions more into poverty.
"As we write, none of the country's refineries is fully functional. Trillions continue to be looted under the guise of fuel subsidies, while our people are forced to queue up for hours in search of products they never get, or at prices they cannot afford when they manage to get the fuel.
"The AAC and candidate Omoyele Sowore are deeply troubled by this wave of attacks against the Nigerian people. We demand an immediate resolution to the currency and fuel crises so that our people who are already on the brink, will not be pushed over."
The party and its candidate, however, appealed to Nigerian electorates to support the AAC in the coming elections, to bring an end to this characteristic incompetence and contempt for the Nigerian people. "Our party is implacably dedicated to the total liberation of the poor masses from the clutches of the APC and all other parties of the rich few, who are all essentially the same."