Ganduje shuts Kano supermarket for refusing to accept old naira notes

Abdullahi Ganduje, governor of Kano State, has ordered Dr. Baffa Babba Dan Agundi, chairman of the State Consumer Protection Council, to shut down Wellcare Supermarket, which sold food products and drugs, for refusing to accept the old naira notes from customers.

Agundi disclosed that after shutting down the supermarket, legal action would be taken against the company.

The order of the closure followed the refusal of WellCare Supermarket to accept the old naira notes from customers, contrary to an instruction by the Kano State government to residents of the state to continue accepting the old currency.

He warned other marketers in Kano to be aware that the state government had not banned the use of old N200, N500 and N1, 000 as legal tender, stressing that any shop caught not receiving the old notes would be dealt with decisively.

Meanwhile, Wellcare Alliance Limited had sent a plea and an apology letter to Ganduje for immediate intervention to re-open the supermarket.

The letter read, “Due to the federal government policy on the new naira notes we gave wrong instructions to our staff that from the 10th day of February 2023, only the new approved naira notes are to be in circulation, on an expansive investigation with our bankers they declined to receive old naira notes on our behalf, unknown to all parties that the state has a policy that the old notes are to be in circulation.

“On this basis we sincerely apologise for our actions and deeply regret any inconvenience this may have caused the state.

“We humbly plead that our business should be re-opened for deserving members of the public as we undertake to receive old notes as valid tender to when the state issues and otherwise directive. Please do accept our regards and sincere apologies.”