By Miftaudeen Raji

Labour Party vice presidential candidate, Yusuf Datti Baba-Ahmed said the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN has no responsibility with electoral matters, such as curbing vote-buying. 

Baba-Ahmed made this assertion during an interview on Channels Television’s programme, The Verdict.

He said, “Currency swap is a sovereign matter. Buhari’s government is a legitimate one…however, they don’t have the powers to put Nigerians under stress. That’s the power they don’t have. They are meant to promote our welfare and protect our lives and property.”

CBN found itself proliferating its responsibilities

The Labour Party vice presidential candidate expressed worry, saying that changing the naira currency was not what the President Muhammadu Buhari-led government promised Nigerians.

Datti-Ahmed said, “Changing the currency was not what was they promised Nigerians. Improved, stronger niara was what Nigerians were promised. CBN found itself proliferating its responsibilities. Election and electoral matters have nothing much per say to do with CBN.

“CBN is monitoring policy, not even the fiscal policy that they’ve been engaged in severally. So, for CBN to engage in whatever is having to do with currency has to be strictly economic, financial and monitoring, not electoral,” he added.

He however, said the CBN has already done the currency redesign, adding that, “Our position is that when we come into power, we will move Nigeria from consumption to production. We will end fuel subsidy scam, we will end multiple exchange rate and stabilize the naira.”