The All Progressives Congress (APC) governorship candidate in Oyo state, Senator Teslim Folarin, on Friday said the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) governor, Mr. Godwin Emefiele, “is insincere about the availability of new Naira notes in circulation.”
Folarin, the chairman, Senate Committee on Local Content, declared that the CBN’s claim that N3.2 trillion new currencies were in circulation “is a pure lie.”
In the statement issued in Ibadan by his media aide, Com. Yekeen Olaniyi, Senator Folarindecried the untold hardships on Nigerians, occasioned by the scarcity of petroleum products and currency notes.
“The glaring reality is that the Central Bank Governor, Mr. Godwin Emefiele is insincere about the availability of the new notes. It’s now visible to the blind and audible to the deaf that CBN Governor is acting the script of the cabals who are vehemently against removal of subsidy.
“The CBN’s claim that N3.2 trillion new currencies are in circulation is a pure lie as almost all ATMs across the country dispensed old Naira notes from December 2022 till end of January 2023. This was an indication that the CBN was not ready for what it intended to do,” the statement read in part.
It added, “It’s saddening and unacceptable to see our people sleeping at filling stations and Automated Teller Machines (ATM) galleries. It is callous to render our people in further hardship, especially the ones struggling to survive, considering the Covid-19 pandemic which cripples the global economy and affects every home.
“Having failed in his bid to succeed President Muhammadu Buhari, Mr. Emefiele moved to change the currencies without carrying along the National Assembly, state Governors, Ministers and other critical stakeholders. He conspired with cabals to cause economic crisis and truncate our hard earned democracy.”