By Biodun Busari

His Imperial Majesty, the Oluwo of Iwo, Oba Abdulrosheed Adewale Akanbi, has called on youths in Osun State to be calm and desist from violence over the scarcity of new naira notes plaguing Nigeria.

Vanguard reported that President Muhammadu Buhari ordered that the old N200 notes should co-exist as legal tender till April 10.

Buhari said this on Thursday, following the Supreme Court adjournment of the suit challenging the full implementation of the new naira regime introduced by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to February 22.

Governors of Kaduna, Kogi and Zamfara states, Nasir El-Rufai, Yahaya Bello and Bello Matawale filed the suit against the Federal Government.

There have been protests in parts of the country like Lagos, Oyo, Ogun, and Rivers, over the hardship of new naira notes resulting in vandalisation and burning of banks, Point-of-Sales (POS) kiosks, and shootings that claimed lives.

Reacting to the chaos currently ravaging the country, Akanbi begged youths in his state to maintain peace and order.

He made the appeal in a statement issued by his Chief Press Secretary, Alli Ibraheem, on Friday.

“I specially commend the active youths of Osun State for maintaining peace and order despite the hardship inflicted on innocent masses by the new naira regime,” Oba Akanbi said.

The Osun traditional ruler also said, “While acknowledging your peace-loving spirit, I appeal for further calm, orderliness, and protection of both public and private properties. Our banks and their workers are not at fault. Don’t touch them.

“There is no much infrastructure in Osun. Let’s protect our state against the infrastructural deficit.  Don’t destroy banks. Whatever will do to public and private properties will have a huge effect on our collective economy.”

The monarch used the medium to appeal to the president to roll out a measure that will permanently address the mayhem the naira redesign and cashless policy have caused Nigerians.

“I still charge the federal government led by President Muhammad Buhari to consider the suffering masses and halt the new naira policy. I enjoin you to be peace-loving and sustain the path of honour,” Oluwo of Iwo added.