The Unified Northern Nigeria Youths Forum (UNNYF) has said that those attacking the Governor of the Central Bank (CBN) governor, Dr. Godwin Emefiele, over the new monetary policies are enemies of Nigeria.
In a statement on Tuesday in Kaduna, the group alleged that “some unpatriotic, overzealous and corrupt individuals were fighting dirty with every weapon they have to stop the CBN governor from emancipating the Nigerian masses from the shackles of bondage put upon them by wicked individuals.”
The statement signed by Aliyu Mohammed, Publicity Secretary of the UNNYF, also took a swipe on Muhammad Kazaure, a member of the House of Representatives from Jigawa state, for making baseless accusations against Emefiele in a video clip without substantiating his claims.
The group said the lawmaker alleged that the CBN governor could not account for a sum of N89.1 trillion stamp duty collected by from banks and other financial institutions.
It described the allegations as “fake”, coming from a rumour monger.
“We wish to in all ramifications debunk that rumour, it is a falsified story that is absolutely fake.
“We will like to clear the air, and remind Nigerians that Dr Godwin Emefiele remains the man in of integrity that they know, an intellectual who is versed in the economic and development issues.
“The alleged committee the lawmaker is talking about, which he claims to be the
secretary, is illegal and stands dissolved on the directive of President Muhammadu Buhari as rightly stated by his Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Malam Garba Shehu”, the statement said.
Mohammed maintained that “the only committee that was ever formed and still exist is the one chaired by Attorney General and Minister of Justice with the Chairman of the Federal Internal Revenue Service (FIRS), as it’s Secretary.
The group urged Nigerians to disregard Kazaure’s allegations, as there is no iota of truth in it.
“It is a public knowledge that since the CBN announced its intention to redesign some denominations of the naira notes, enemies of democracy and Nigeria’s progress have come out to attack Emefiele.
“More recently, the CBN announced its policy on limiting withdrawals rate, this has also pushed these set of unpatriotic, overzealous and corrupt individuals to fight dirty with every weapon they have to stop the CBN Governor from emancipating Nigerian masses”, the group said.
According to the statement, “The CBN governor has lucidly explained that one of the reasons for redesigning some denominations of the naira note is to systematically recollect the over N2.7 out of N3.1 trillion that lies outside the banking hall, hidden and illegally being used for ungodly acts in the hands certain persons.
“The reason for the withdrawal restriction policy is to clamp down on terrorism, because terrorism can only fare where there are unchecked flow of huge amount of cash. Secondly, to also restrict unnecessary cash flow that is only favorable for corrupt acts such as vote buying, election mal-practices and siphoning of public funds.
“Kazaure and every patriotic Nigerian should be happy and proud of Dr Emefiele’s foresight, courage and achievements as the CBN.”
