Kaduna State Governor, Nasir El-Rufai claimed that the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), withdrew N2 trillion from circulation and replacing the old notes with only N400 billion.
El-Rufai made this allegation via his verified Twitter handle on Sunday, he accused the apex bank of unilaterally and unlawfully implementing currency confiscation.
His tweet reads, “During the implementation of the cash swap, the CBN withdrew over N2 trillion from circulation but printed only N400 billion, so in effect, currency confiscation was then unilaterally and unlawfully implemented by the CBN. Trade and exchange have collapsed. Human suffering, impoverishment, and economic contraction resulted.
“The policy objective was derailed into a deliberate national fiasco to sabotage the elections to prevent vote-buying. All efforts to get CBN to implement what was lawfully approved failed.”
The governor claimed President Buhari approved redesigning the N200, N500, and N1000 notes, whereas the CBN only did recolour.
He said, “Currency redesign was approved by the President and announced. Currency recoloring resulted.
“Currency swap was 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 receive N100,000 immediately in new notes. No more, no less.”