In October 2022, the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Godwin Emefiele announced the plan of the bank to redesign the N200, N500, and N1,000 notes, and asked Nigerians to deposit their old notes before January 31, 2023, when they would cease to be legal tender.
Femi Fani-Kayode, Director of Special Projects and New Media of the Presidential Campaign Council (PCC) of the All Progressives Congress (APC), has again condemned the naira swap policy of the Muhammadu Buhari government.
In October 2022, the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Godwin Emefiele announced the plan of the bank to redesign the N200, N500, and N1,000 notes, and asked Nigerians to deposit their old notes before January 31, 2023, when they would cease to be legal tender.
Although the deadline was extended to February 10, many Nigerians have found it difficult to obtain the new naira notes.
Last Thursday, President Buhari gave a directive limiting the legal tender status of old notes to only N200, but that does not seem to have alleviated the hardship faced by Nigerians regarding the policy.
Buhari’s directive came a week after the Supreme Court ordered the Nigerian government to allow the continued use of old N200, N500 and N1,000 notes, but the President countered that order.
In his national broadcast, Buhari announced that the old N500 and N1000 notes had ceased to be legal tender but extended the deadline for N200 notes to April 10.
In a statement on Sunday, Fani-Kayode described the action of the government and the CBN as wicked and fraudulent.
The former aviation minister said a currency swap but a ‘currency grab’, adding that “despite the darkness and fear that has enveloped the land, I shall continue to speak that truth”.
“I add the following: damned and accursed is he that fears the chains and dungeon in which he is kept or that lives in trepidation and fear of his tormentors and persecutors,” he said.
“I cannot be intimidated and I cannot be silenced.”
According to Fani-Kayode, “what we are witnessing and what is unfolding in our country today comes from the pit of hell”.
He added, “Worse still it is much deeper and more profound in its sheer wickedness and malevolence than most people can possibly think or appreciate.
“You see, there was NEVER a currency swap. It was a currency GRAB and a classic 419.
“You asked everyone, both rich and poor, to give up their hard earned cash and you refused to give them full value in return.
“You took the old notes and refused to give the new.
“After that you banned the use of what was left of the old, declared that it was no longer legal tender, displayed utter contempt for the Supreme Court and effectively overruled them.
“You imposed a cashless society on the Nigerian people overnight and thereby destroyed the lives and businesses of millions in a matter of seconds and took away their strength and power.
“Lest I forget let me add this: you said that we should all put our money in the banks and that we should live by bank transfers alone forgetting that 65% of the Nigerian people do not have a bank account.
“Kindly tell me how you expect them to survive?
“And even those that have bank accounts are finding it difficult to effect transfers and transact business because the whole banking infrastructure is overloaded and has broken down.
“All this in the month of our presidential election.
“Let's be real: the intention was clear and there was nothing wholesome or altruistic about it.
“Simply put Godwin the Greed and his Agbor Mafia are implementing the agenda of a dark, sinister, cruel and sadistic force and group of executioners who reside in the corridors of power and who seek to rob the Nigerian people of their hard-earned money, impoverish them, propel them into untold hardship, afflict them with penury, cloak them with poverty, cover them with suffering, stoke their anger, provoke their rage and incite them into protesting and rioting in the streets and hating BAT (Bola Ahmed Tinubu), the APC (All Progressives Congress) and ALL our candidates at every level!
“The Illuminati and their local agents are at work in our country and they are imposing a hegelanian dialectic.
“Out of the chaos that they seek to unleash will come their new order.
“May God deliver us from these evil men.
“Finally let us be clear and REMEMBER this when you cast your vote in the presidential elections in a few days time: Atiku LOVES this hardship and confusion and has said he wants the pain to CONTINUE!
“The same with Peter Obi.
“The only presidential candidate that is clearly opposed to it, that will take away the pain and that will review this ill-advised, ill-timed and patently misguided and destructive policy is our incoming President, Bola Ahmed Tinubu who was never consulted before its implementation and who bears no responsibility for the suffering, panic, fear, anger and trepidation that our people are confronted with today simply because a small handful of unelected, faceless and powerful men in the corridors of power were able to hoodwink President Muhammadu Buhari.”
SaharaReporters reported last week that Fani-Kayode was now required to report at the office of the Department of State Services every day over his allegation of a coup plot ahead of the general elections.
The former aviation minister confirmed this on his Twitter page last Wednesday.
SaharaReporters earlier reported that Fani-Kayode alleged that the Peoples Democratic Party presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar and top military generals had a secret meeting.
He insinuated that the meeting was part of an agenda to provoke a coup d’état and establish a new and unconstitutional order in the country.
However, the Nigerian military dismissed the report, insisting that it was committed to democracy in the country.
Following the allegation, Fani-Kayode was invited by the secret police, Department of State Services to their office and grilled for about six hours.