THE Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has debunked a report alleging that its governor, Godwin Emefiele, doled out N500 million new notes to support the Labour Party (LP) governorship campaign in Lagos State.
In a statement signed by its Acting Director, Corporate Communications, Isa AbdulMumin, on Monday, March 13, the apex bank said the report, published by The Nation, was untrue.
The bank described the story as “malicious,” claiming that the CBN governor did not know and had never met or spoken with the LP candidate, Gbadebo Rhodes Vivour, in person or through a proxy.
“We wish to reiterate that the CBN governor does not take part in politics and therefore urge anyone with contrary information to prove the governor wrong by providing any facts.
“As such, the governor and his team at the CBN should be allowed to focus on their assigned job with a view to achieving the statutory mandate of the bank,” the bank stated.
The Nation had alleged that Emefiele’s purported support for the LP candidate added to his flagrant disobedience to the Supreme Court judgment nullifying the naira redesign policy initiated by the CBN.
Besides, the report recalled Emefiele’s reported failed bid to get the APC’s presidential ticket.
According to The Nation, the alleged N500 million is to help the LP win the Lagos State governorship election and consequently take the state from Tinubu, who, The ICIR reports, has largely determined the state’s governors since 1999.
“Emefiele, whose controversial policy is widely believed to have specifically targeted Tinubu ahead of the presidential poll, is highly unfavoured to continue in office after President Muhammadu Buhari bows out on May 29,” part of The Nation’s report stated.
“Funding the LP by the CBN would give an undue advantage to the LP over the incumbent Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu of the APC and Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) governorship candidate, Olajide Adediran,” The Nation stated.
It added, “Aside Emefiele’s N500 million cash, the LP has also reportedly received $2 million cash from a famous retired billionaire general, who hails from the North.”
The ICIR reports that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) rescheduled the governorship and House of Assembly election scheduled for March 11 to March 18 to enable it to reconfigure the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) used for the presidential and National Assembly election on February 25 for the poll.
The LP won Lagos State during the presidential election with 582,454 votes.
Tinubu’s APC polled 572,606 votes, and Atiku Abubakar of the PDP secured 75,750 votes and came second and third, respectively.
The ICIR reported how the CBN’s naira redesign policy has caused Nigerians great pain and negatively impacted business.
Many APC stalwarts, including Ondo State Governor Rotimi Akeredolu and his Kaduna State counterpart, Nasir el-Rufai, had claimed the naira redesign was to make Tinubu fail the presidential poll.
Marcus bears the light, and he beams it everywhere. He's a good governance and decent society advocate. He's The ICIR Reporter of the Year 2022 and has been the organisation's News Editor since September 2023. Contact him via email @ mfatunmole@icirnigeria.org