Adams Oshiomhole claims that President Muhammadu Buhari was misled by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) over the redesign of the naira notes.
The policy was criticised by Oshiomhole, who called it senseless and an attempt by the apex bank to sabotage the general elections. He claims that the bank persuaded the President to endorse the programme by selling him an anti-corruption justification.
Recall that the redesign of the N1,000, N500, and N200 notes was authorised by President Buhari last year. Nigerians, meanwhile, are struggling to get their hands on the new notes as the deadline for the currency swap, February 10th, draws nearer. Following the naira swap issue, the CBN insisted that it wouldn’t postpone the deadline.
Oshiomhole asserted that the CBN convinced the President that reducing vote-buying through a redesign of the naira notes would catch dishonest politicians off guard.
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He further said that the action was intended to stir up trouble, divert attention from the government, and ultimately force the All Progressives Congress (APC) to lose the election.
“So, I can guess – I was not there – that in obtaining the approval, I believe the CBN deceived the President by amplifying the need to have corruption-free electioneering as if election is the only project this President has a responsibility for,” he said during an interview on Channels Television’s election programme The 2023 Verdict on Sunday.
“The President Buhari that I know will have no difficulty in agreeing,” he said, arguing that the CBN governor Godwin Emefiele “knows better than that”.
“You could see that the intention of the Bank is not to eliminate abuses but to stop the elections from taking place.”
“If you have riots like you had in Ibadan and Benin – I don’t know anywhere else – and they were taking place simultaneously, and you are now dealing with the issue of protecting lives and properties, will elections become a priority?” the APC chieftain quizzed.
“So, it is in that context that whoever scuttles the elections would have scuttled the chances of the APC winning the election.”
