Politicians Should Spare CBN From Deliberate Falsehood – Spokesman

Aisha-Buhari

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has reacted to allegation by the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) that the First Lady, Mrs. Aisha Buhari, was involved in round tripping of foreign exchange.

The bank’s spokesman, Mr. Isaac Okoroafor, told Vanguard that the allegation was, “not only ridiculous but laughable.”

“Politicians should spare this institution from deliberate falsehood because if they destroy the reputation of the institution, the economy suffers. Politicians should please allow us to do our job in the interest of the economy,” Okoroafor said.

“With every sense of responsibility, it is important to state that the Central Bank does not sell forex to individuals nor companies. You are aware that we sell forex to banks which in turn sell to their customers. For anyone to say that the CBN sells forex to individuals or some companies is, indeed, very ridiculous and mischievous.

“It was very laughable to say that the CBN sold forex to anyone at N185/$1. The records are there for anyone who is interested to crosscheck. The CBN has not sold the dollar at N185 in recent times. The movement of the exchange rate was N155/$1; N168/ $1; and from there to the current rate of N197/$1,” Mr. Okoroafor said, urging Nigerians to disregard what he described as “baseless” and “falsehood” that had been trending in the social social media.

The PDP had alleged via its twitter account that the president’s wife bought $22 million from the CBN which she resold on the same day at black market rates.

Mrs Buhari had denied the allegation and threatened that she had grounds to sue for defamation of character.