CBN deceived Buhari with this ‘senseless’ policy — Oshiomole

Adams Oshiomole, a member of the presidential campaign council of the All Progressives Congress (APC), has accused the Godwin Emefiele-led Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) of deceiving President Muhammadu Buhari with its naira redesign and cashless policy, which it termed “senseless.”

Oshiomole claimed that Emefiele deceitfully persuaded the president to approve the policy under the guise of fighting corruption, vote buying, and ensuring a free, fair, and credible election.

He made this claim on Sunday when answering questions on Channels TV “The 2023 Verdict” programme.

“I can guess that in obtaining the approval which the president said he gave,” he said. “I believe the CBN deceived the president by emphasising the need for a corruption-free electioneering as if elections were the only project for which this president is responsible.”

The former Edo State governor complained about the difficulties most Nigerians, especially the everyday people, are going through just to keep afloat and meet up with their everyday responsibilities.

Read also: Banks insist no cash after CBN’s directive

He highlighted the underlying difference between the naira redesign policy of current CBN management and a similar policy used in 1983 by President Buhari when he was the military head of state.

He said, “When General Buhari changed the colour of the naira, which he did when he first came in as military head of state, he did not forbid the banks from paying people in new notes. He did not impose restrictions on how much you can withdraw, provided it is your lawful money.”

He accused CBN of involving itself in matters that are outside its legislative jurisdiction, insisting that hiding under “fighting corruption” was quite unfortunate and capable of affecting the conduct of the election.

“Because once you tell the president we have to remove corruption from our electoral system, we must remove vote buying, and by changing currency, those who have stocked money would be trapped, and elections would be free, fair, and credible, and there would be no vote buying.

“The President Buhari that I know would have no difficulty agreeing.”

“However, the CBN governor knows better than that. You could see that the intention of the bank was not to eliminate abuses but to prevent the election from taking place.

“In my appeal, I am happy that the national assembly captured the mood of the people; what distinguishes democracy from dictatorship is the presence of parliament,” he said.