Adams Oshiomhole, former National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), has said that the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) misled President Muhammadu Buhari into endorsing the Naira redesign policy.
The former Governor of Edo State said that the Naira redesign was intended to derail the presidential election, during an interview on Channels Television’s ‘The 2023 Verdict’ on Sunday.
While absolving Buhari of any blame, the APC chief stated that, while he was not privy to the events that led to the President’s approval of the policy, he believed Buhari was misled. Furthermore, the apex bank convinced the President to endorse the initiative by selling him an anti-corruption objective.
“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 the election is the only project this President has a responsibility for,” Oshiomhole said.
He went on to say that the apex bank allegedly used the President’s anti-corruption posture to convince him to agree to the policy.
“The President Buhari that I know will have no difficulty in agreeing,” he said.
The former APC chairman further said that the CBN’s purpose was to prevent the presidential election from taking place on the scheduled date, thereby undermining the APC’s chances of winning.
“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?
“So, it is in that context that whoever scuttles the elections would have scuttled the chances of the APC winning the election,” Oshiomhole argued.