From Ndubuisi Orji, Abuja
The Coalition of National Interest Defenders, an NGO, has raised the alarm over an alleged plot to launch a smear campaign against the Governor Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Godwin Emefiele, over the recent policies of the bank.
The convener, Tochukwu Ohazuruike, who raised the alarm, at a press briefing, on Thursday, in Abuja, said unscrupulous politicians are the mastermind of the plot.
According to him, there are plans to stage protests at the headquarters of the CBN, in Abuja, as well as foreign missions so as to embarrass the CBN boss.
Ohazuruike dismissed allegations that N89 trillion realized from stamp duty was mismanaged by the apex bank, wondering how the N50 charge on electronic transactions would be more than the entire financial transaction in the country.
“How can they say we have N89 trillion from stamp duty of N50 charge while the entire nation’s foreign reserve is not near that amount? How is it possible that we can have N89 trillion while the entire assets of our nation’s banks, bank profit and all deposits in the banks are not up to that amount?
“How can we have N89 trillion from just N50 charges when the nation’s total budget since 2016 when President Muhammadu Buhari first presented a budget to date is just about N95 Trillion? It means that this amount could have funded all the budget of the country since this administration assumed office. Just how could that be?,” he queried.