Bank gave governor N500m in new notes, El Rufai raises alarm

Kaduna State governor, Nasir El-Rufai has alleged that one of the banks gave a governor N500m in new notes while many Nigerians are looking for cash to buy food and transport them to work. Mr. El-Rufai who was speaking during an interview with BBC Hausa service said the CBN should not rush the swap of the old notes for the new notes, otherwise the scarcity will persist. “There is nowhere in the world that currency exchange doesn’t happen but they don’t give limited time such as this one for currency swap and definitely not close to elections,” said El-Rufai “Yesterday, I was told that one of our governors got N500m in new notes from the bank. It was the bank that gave him.” El-Rufai confirmed what was stated by former Kano State governor and New Nigeria Peoples Party, Rabiu Kwankwaso who said it was the ordinary Nigerians that are feeling the pinch of the naira swap policy. “They don’t know that many of our politicians colleagues, those who are contesting, especially the presidential candidates, and by extension all those in their parties are owners of the banks. “And not only that, people close to them have banks everywhere. So, they will lose nothing. PDP has governors, and APC has governors. Governors by now would have collected so much money from the banks in their States,” said Kwankwaso during an appearance on Channels TV Sunrise talk show.