New Naira Notes: Oshiomhole Tackles CBN For ‘Deceiving’ Buhari

BY EDMOND ODOK – A former National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Comrade Adams Oshiomhole has joined forces with those claiming that the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) deceived President Muhammadu Buhari into approving the Naira redesign without providing adequate information on the policy implementation.

In faulting the policy, Comrade Adams described it as senseless and a plot by the apex bank to scuttle the general elections, noting that the CBN sold an anti-corruption motive to the President which made him approve the policy innocently.

Speaking on Channels Television’s “The 2023 Verdict” aired on Sunday, the former Edo State Governor insinuated that the policy was meant to scuttle this month’s presidential election, even as he exonerated Buhari from any blame.

According to him; “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 the election is the only project this President has a responsibility for. President Buhari that I know will have no difficulty in agreeing to the plan”

The APC chieftain, who claimed that the CBN is pursuing another agenda with the currency redesign, said the President was told that redesigning the Naira notes would curb vote buying and thus catch corrupt politicians off guard.

Maintaining that the CBN Governor Godwin Emefiele “knows better than that”, Comrade Oshiomhole said; “The President Buhari that I know will have no difficulty in agreeing”, adding; “You could see that the intention of the Bank is not to eliminate abuses but to stop the elections from taking place”.

He lamented that the move was meant to cause unrest, shift the government’s attention, and ultimately make the ruling APC lose the elections.

Ex-Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) President said; “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?”

“So, it is in that context that whoever scuttles the elections would have scuttled the chances of the APC winning the election”, he said