Northern Group: Those Opposing CBN’s Policies are Enemies of Nigeria

John Shiklam in Kaduna

The Unified Northern Nigeria Youths Forum (UNNYF) has said those attacking the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Mr. Godwin Emefiele, over his recent policies are enemies of the country.

In a statement yesterday in Kaduna, the group alleged that “some unpatriotic, overzealous and corrupt individuals were fighting dirty with every weapon at their disposal to stop the CBN governor from emancipating the Nigerian masses from the shackles of bondage by wicked individuals.”

The statement signed by Publicity Secretary of the UNNYF, Aliyu Mohammed, also took a swipe at 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 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 wish to clear the air and remind Nigerians that Dr Godwin Emefiele remains the man of integrity that we all know, an intellectual who is versed in economic and development issues.”

According to the statement, “The alleged committee the lawmaker referred to, which he claimed 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.”

Mohammed maintained that “the only committee that was ever formed and still exists, is the one chaired by Attorney General and Minister of Justice with the Chairman of the Federal Internal Revenue Service (FIRS), as its secretary.”

The UNNYF urged Nigerians to disregard Kazaure’s allegations, saying there was 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 added.

According to the statement, “The CBN governor had lucidly explained that one of the reasons for redesigning some denominations of the naira note was to systematically recollect the over N2.7 trillion out of N3.1 trillion 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.”