The fuel and cash crunches have already soured the mood ahead of the February 25 presidential vote.
But Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) Chairman Mahmood Yakubu on Wednesday reassured Nigerians the February 25 ballot would happen, with three major presidential candidates in a tight race.
Buhari's ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) party and main opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PCP) are trading accusations of plots and sabotage - or of hoarding new banknotes in order to buy votes.
Some APC stalwarts even blame "fifth columnist" enemies in the presidency for creating the shortages to undermine their man, former Lagos governor Bola Tinubu.
Buhari, who steps down after two terms, last week asked Nigerians to give him seven days to resolve the shortages, which he blamed on inefficiencies and hoarding in distribution of new notes.
But watching the lines outside Kano's banks, market trader Mohammed Ali Danazumi said elections were far from his mind. He was on a second hours-long wait to get cash after failing to get naira the day before.
"Today, I am number 290, what can I do?" he asked after joining the waiting list to get access to the cash machine.
"We need change, we need some serious change."
Government officials defend the cash swap to replace old 1,000, 500 and 200 naira notes as a way to clear counterfeit bills and a large amount of cash held outside banks.
But for many Nigerians, already coping with widespread insecurity and the inflationary fallout from the Ukraine war, the dual cash and fuel shortage is fast becoming too much.
Traders have been quick to profit. Street vendors sell cash via a bank card transaction on mobile POS machines, but with a hefty charge of 1,000 naira for 5,000 naira, Lagos and Kano residents say.
"You pay cash for your own cash," said a Lagos business administrator after a transaction.
For Kano auto mechanic Sayo Ade, who left his car overnight in a line outside a petrol station, patience was beyond thin.
"There is no cash in Nigeria now. You can't get any at the ATM (cash machine). But in here, the POS machines (for electronic transactions) don't work, so they are asking for cash," he said waving his bank card at the gasoline station.
"Who has cash in Nigeria now?"
Despite its status as a major oil producer, fuel lines recently reappeared in Lagos and other cities.
Perched on his yellow rickshaw taxi, Adamu Isyaku said he spent hours to fill up at a station where fuel is sold at the regular subsidised price. Black market fuel would save him time but cost him double.
Now even some customers have little cash.
"Sometimes we are like a charity. Sometimes people just say, 'this all I have,' and you have no choice but to accept," he said.
"I was going to vote. I have my voter card with me. But with all this suffering, I've changed my mind."
Others took a pragmatic view in a country where coping with "wahala" -- a widely used Hausa phrase for Nigeria's daily struggles -- is seen as a necessary skill.
"We are Nigerians, we will survive," said Kayode Gabriel, 46, a salesman, waiting for his turn to fill up his car tank in Kano. "No, it's not normal, but God gave us a resilient spirit. Someday, somehow we will get it right."
