2023 Election: Top politicians with billions in cash move against Naira redesign - CBN reveals

Following moves by the Central Bank to reintroduce and redesign the Nigerian’s currency, reports indicate that some politicians are against the plan.

According to the CBN, this is as a result of the stashed billions of Naira outside the banking system to use ahead of the 2023 general elections.

The agency noted that these politicians have mobilized the National Assembly to pass a resolution against the Naira redesign.

It has been gathered that many of the politicians who have plans of rigging the 2023 election through vote-buying has stock-pilled the Naira in their houses, offices and other hidden places hence their plans to ambush the CBN’s initiative.

The CBN has earlier announced that all Naira’s should be submitted to the banks before January 2023 or breach the Money Laundering Act.

As the deadline draws near, some sources said that these politicians want the National Assembly to pass a resolution directing the CBN to shift the Naira redesign till after 2023 election in order not to attract the attention of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).

“These politicians are believed to have kept large amounts of cash in their houses and other hidden places and they believe that three months will be too short for them to return these funds to the banks without being indicted by the EFCC for money laundering and other related crimes,” one of the sources told THISDAY.

Since the announcement by the Central Bank, the policy has received the backing of President Muhammadu Buhari as he hinted that there is no going back on the planned redesign and that three months was enough for Nigerians to deposit the bank notes.

BS