The Director of Media and Publicity for All Progressives Congress Presidential Campaign Council, Bayo Onanuga, on Wednesday, said the failure on part of the Central Bank of Nigeria’s Governor, Godwin Emefiele, to think through the effect of the old naira withdrawal timeframe led to Supreme Court verdict.
This coming hours after the Supreme Court temporarily halted the move by the Federal Government through the CBN to ban the use of the old naira notes from February 10, 2023.
A seven-member panel led by Justice John Okoro had granted an interim injunction against the CBN and Federal Government, allowing the old N200, N500 and N1000 to remain legal tender beyond February 10 deadline until the case is fully disposed.
But Onanuga in a post on his Facebook post on Wednesday shortly after the apex court verdict, said that Emefiele and his “conspirators” would have to return to the drawing board.
According to him, Emefiele had only distributed N300 billion Naira to the banks against the N1.9 trillion received by the banks.
The post read, “Some APC governors took the FGN, CBN to court when it was clear they were not going to listen to voices of reason about extending the deadline for the swap of old naira notes with new ones.
“Up till now, Emefiele had only distributed N300 billion Naira to the banks against the N1.9 trillion received by the banks.
“Before the new notes were introduced, N3.3 trillion was in circulation.
“This explains why the ATMS don’t have money and our people cannot withdraw money, leading to unrest in some part of the country. It explains the scarcity of the new notes countrywide. The truth is that Emefiele has not printed enough notes to match the N3.3 trillion in circulation.
“It thus does not make any sense for Emefiele to insist that February 10 deadline must be observed.
“It is sheer madness on the part of the monetary authorities. In other saner climes, the currency swap is done seamlessly for a period not less than 12 months. Why was Emefiele insistent on punishing our people over their money?. He should search his conscience and return to the drawing board along with his conspirators.”
