Governor Nasir el-Rufai of Kaduna state has accused the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, of withdrawing N2 trillion from circulation and replacing old notes by printing only N400 billion.
El-Rufai made the allegation in a tweet through his verified Twitter handle, on Sunday.
He said that the apex bank was only confiscating the currency instead of what could be found in the currency exchange policy.
The tweet read, “During the implementation of the cash swap, the CBN withdrew over N2 trillion from circulation but only printed N400 billion, hence, the seizure of currency was unilaterally and illegally carried out by the CBN. Trade and exchange have collapsed. Human suffering, poverty, and economic contraction caused.
“The purpose of the policy was to launch a deliberate national failure to sabotage elections to prevent vote buying. All efforts to get the CBN to implement what it legally approved have failed.
The governor stated that President Muhammadu Buhari approved the redesign of the naira, but the CBN did something different, regarding the redesign and exchange of the currency.
According to El-Rufai, President Buhari approved the redesign of the N200, N500, and N1000 notes, while the CBN only did the recolour.
He said, “The currency redesign was approved by the President and announced. Currency recoloring is the result.
“Currency swap is envisaged by s.20 (3) of the Central Bank of Nigeria Act as approved by PMB. Swap means I take N100,000 to the bank in old notes & I immediately receive N100,000 in new notes. No more, no less.”
Recall that the naira crisis peaked last Thursday after the President’s national broadcast, which defied the Supreme Court by extending the validity of the old N200 note, while insisting that the old N500 and N1,000 remain illegal.
Buhari urged Nigerians to deposit their old N500 and 1000 notes with the CBN, adding that the old N200 notes will be valid for the next 60 days until April 10.