In the northern Nigerian town of Kano, where a large number of clients jostled to get on a waiting list to withdraw money, tempers were flaring soon after sunrise.
Crowds of individuals waiting impatiently to withdraw cash, which was only allowed to be taken out in the amount of 10,000 naira ($20) per person, had gathered before the bank had even opened its doors.
Due to another shortage, of petrol, hundreds of automobiles, motorcycles, and rickshaw taxis had been parked outside gas stations close to the bank since early in the morning.
The twin shortages in Africa’s biggest economy are overshadowing campaigning, infuriating people, and generating anxiety about election preparations less than two weeks before a vote to choose President Muhammadu Buhari’s successor.
Last week when Buhari traveled to Kano state, one of his strongholds and a crucial election battleground with the second-highest number of registered voters, riots broke out of resentment over the financial crisis.
Mahmood Yakubu, the chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), told Nigerians on Wednesday that the tight race between the three major presidential contenders’ election on February 25 would go forward.
Market seller Mohammed Ali Danazumi, though, claimed that he was not thinking about elections as he observed the lineups outside Kano’s banks. After failing to collect naira the day before, he was on his second hour-long wait to get cash.
Some APC loyalists even accuse their “fifth columnist” adversaries in the White House of causing the shortages in order to discredit their candidate, former Lagos governor Bola Tinubu.
In order to address the shortages, which he attributed to inefficiency and hoarding in the issuance of new notes, Buhari, who is stepping down after two terms, asked Nigerians last week for seven days.
On Friday, Buhari calls an urgent meeting of top authorities to discuss the cash crisis. However, the governors of the APC have already informed him that they are concerned about the influence on the election.