The postponement of the visit of President Muhammadu Buhari to Kano State was to avoid a repeat of a protest in Buhari’s home state, Katsina on Thursday, where angry residents trooped out to register their displeasure over the harsh economic situation in the state.

This explanation was given by
Governor Abdullahi Umar Ganduje, on Saturday while announcing the postponement of Buhari’s visit to the state where he was scheduled to commission some projects, citing security reasons and fears of a protest over the hardship Nigerians are currently facing due to the deadline by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) for the swap of old naira notes.

The President was scheduled to visit Kano on January 30 and 31 to commission some of the projects undertaken by Ganduje including a new bridge/ interchange, 10 megawatts independent hydropower project, a multi-billion naira ultra-modern cancer centre, the Dala Dry Inland Port and solar power projects.

However, in a statement issued by his Chief Press Secretary, Abba Anwar, Ganduje said the state had written to the Presidency requesting that the visit be postponed after holding interactive sessions with scholars, legislators, political leaders and the business community in the state at Government House, Kano.

“Deeply concerned with the hardship caused by the limited time given for halting the use of old Naira notes by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), and for security reasons, Kano State Governor, Abdullahi Umar Ganduje, reveals that the state resolved and wrote to Presidency that, the visit of the President to commission some projects to be postponed,” Anwar said in the statement.

“As we are waiting for this important visit, we found ourselves in this situation which puts citizens into untold hardship.

“For security purposes we wrote to Presidency that the President Muhammadu Buhari’s visit to Kano is postponed,” he affirmed.