Comrade Adams Oshiomhole, a former National Chairman of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) in Nigeria, has criticized the CBN’s cashless policy, insisting that the country’s apex bank cannot impose its will on the people.
He called the policy stupid and said that he thought Godwin Emefiele’s apex bank tricked President Muhammadu Buhari into supporting it.
The current economic crisis caused by the CBN policy, according to the former governor of Edo State and former president of the Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC), is unacceptable.
On Sunday evening, he stated in an interview with Channels TV.
Oshiomhole mentioned that there are 18 local government areas in Edo State, but there is only one local government with banks, in response to the scarcity of new naira notes of N200, N500, and N1000 and its repercussions.
He added that despite the presence of two enormous cement factories in the state’s most industrialized region, there is no bank there.
He stated that he believed the CBN informed the President that redesigning naira notes would reduce corruption and curb vote-buying.
Since I wasn’t there, “so, I can guess that in order to obtain the approval, I believe the CBN deceived the President by amplifying the need to have corruption-free electioneering as if this President has a responsibility for the only project”
He went on to say that the President Buhari he is familiar with “will have no difficulty in agreeing.”
Oshiomhole stated, “You could see that the intention of the bank is not to eliminate abuses but to stop the elections from taking place,” alleging that the CBN management had an ulterior motive.
He said that it would be extremely painful for Nigerians to have to pay 20 percent of their legitimately earned money to Point of Sale operators in order to get food for themselves and their families.
“Edo is home to 18 local governments, but only one of them includes banks. Therefore, despite the presence of two enormous cement factories in the most industrialized region of Edo State, there is no bank there. As a result, it hurts and surprises me because you and I both sit in the city.
“In support of my campaign, a mechanic tells me that a POS operator in his neighborhood tells him that he should pay 20%, so when he wants to withdraw N5000, he must pay N1000. We pontificate about election issues, among other things. Nigeria is not exactly a dictatorship of bananas.
“I am shocked that the CBN could implement this stupid policy, and let me be clear: it has nothing to do with changing the currency. We have changed currencies before, and I daresay check the records when General Muhammadu Buhari changed the color of the naira when he first came to power as military head of state. This Governor has not done anything novel.
“He didn’t say that banks couldn’t pay people with new notes. He did not limit the amount of money you could withdraw as long as it was legal money. to believe that all Nigerians are corrupt; that this policy is intended to combat corruption and that the auto mechanic is corrupt. The CBN is not a part of the organizations that are responsible for ensuring that elections are free, fair, and credible.
That is not mentioned in the CBN-establishing Act. As a result, I was alarmed when I heard a debate that appeared to criminalize and, in a sense, extort the political elite as though they were to blame. In fact, I became enraged and asked, “If corruption is at the heart of the CBN challenge, how do they explain that you, Seun, because you are one of the most popular television programs, can get a dollar at N440 per dollar if you import a camera?” And your cameraman, who doesn’t know anyone and wants to pay for his child’s school fees, needs to buy the same dollar at N740 at Wuse Market. What exactly is corruption if that is not it?
“I believe that Nasir El-Rufai meant to say that if you have pockets of riots and protests and our armed forces, whether the police or the army, are not trained to manage discontent or a mass uprising, you may not be able to hold elections. Therefore, not only will APC lose, but everyone else will as well.