The Head of the Peoples Democratic Party’s (PDP) Digital Media, Barrister Tony Ehilebo has claimed of a certain intelligence that the ruling party, the All Progressives Congress (APC), is planning to swap N21 billion it had set out for vote-buying.
He, however, said that the efforts of Governor Nasir El-Rufia of Kaduna State and his cohorts to stop the CBN policy will fail because the States lacked such powers.
He alleged that, “The intelligence reaching us is that the APC, especially in States that they control are using the instrumentality of the State government and trying to swap N21 billion.
“We don’t know if this has gone through or if it has happened but we have raised all the necessary alarms.
“These are the questions we should be asking. We expect that the NFIU which has direct access to any suspicious cash transaction should be on top of its job.
“I’m one of the advocates, one of the drafters of the creation of the National Financial Intelligence Unit Bill and I expect it to live up to expectation, which is why I don’t have any problem with the CBN policy.
“It may not even favour the PDP as far as I’m concerned but it is in the best interest of Nigeria. We’ll really like whoever Nigerians want, which I believe is the PDP at this point in time.”
Speaking further on the recent Supreme Court injunction, he added, “It is a normal procedure of the court. When you run to the court with the cry that lives are being affected, it is the Court’s duty to first intervene and then bring all parties to the table and provide opportunity for response.
“That is why injunctions only have a lifespan of seven days at most. However, I suspect that this will be reversed. If you notice, it was given on 7th and it expires on 15th and that is when the hearing proper is.
“If I were the CBN, on the 15th I’ll carry on with that policy. Of course, the CBN is legitimately carrying out its function and I don’t think the States have any say whatsoever to impede on functions that are constitutionally guaranteed by the banks and other financial institutions’ acts.
“The CBN is guaranteed to be independent of the judiciary and free from the encumbrance of people like El-rufai and his cohorts.”
But, responding to the allegations of planning to buy votes and rig the forthcoming election, Comrade Okpokwu Ogenyi, Convener, Concerned APC Members and member APC Presidential Campaign Council and Civil Society Directorate, wondered why the APC whose government introduced the BVAS and signed the Electoral Act 2022 into law, should be the one being accused of planning to rig elections.