Bayo Onanuga, Director of Media and Publicity for the All Progressives Congress Presidential Campaign Council, has called for the resignation of Godwin Emefiele, Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, following the uproar caused by his controversial Naira swap policy.
His call encapsulated the sentiments of some enraged Nigerians who believed the CBN deserved to be removed from office as a result of the anxiety caused by the scarcity of new naira notes and the short deadline.
The opposition Peoples Democratic Party, on the other hand, dismissed the call as a ploy devised by Tinubu’s camp to avoid defeat in the February 25 presidential election.
Onanuga’s request came just 24 hours before the Supreme Court temporarily halted the government’s move will prohibit the use of old naira notes after February 10, 2023.
A seven-member panel led by Justice John Okoro granted an interim injunction against the CBN and the Federal Government, allowing the old N200, N500, and N1000 notes to continue to be legal tender beyond the February 10 deadline until the case is resolved.
In an interview with one of our correspondents, a furious Onanuga lamented that in a better world, Emefiele would have been fired for subjecting Nigerians to harrowing experiences and untold hardship over the past two weeks.
According to the APC PCC media director, people can now see that the policy was not motivated by the APC, as some have speculated.
“This is not the first time in the world that a currency has been changed,” he said. What makes our country unique? So far, this has revealed that we have an incompetent CBN governor. In fact, in a normal country, the man would have been fired for causing our people to suffer. People are being forced to pay exorbitant fees to POS operators. That is why I said it is all about Nigerians. How can someone sit somewhere and come up with a program that, instead of bringing people relief, brings them pain? It’s a demonic policy.
“The issue is not with the APC candidate. It all comes down to the Nigerian people. We are more concerned about the anguish and pain inflicted on our people. The currency swap is a CBN policy, and we appreciate the president’s intervention. He was apparently not given all of the information about the change and its implications.
