The apex bank would not permit itself to be used to thwart the upcoming general elections, according to Godwin Emiefele, Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).
Speaking as Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, the Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), accompanied 11 National Commissioners on a visit to the Bank, Emiefele said the CBN will make available all of the funds required to pay for the logistics necessary to ensure the success of the elections.
He was replying to Yakubu’s appeal that the CBN find a solution to the country’s cash shortage 17 days before the presidential and national assembly elections in light of the fact that several service suppliers to the commission had been “unbanned.”
‘The CBN will not permit itself to be used as agents to sabotage the upcoming election, which is a good task,” he declared.
“We will make cash accessible to you if you need it to pay certain of your service providers. We won’t permit ourselves to be perceived as saboteurs of legitimate assignments,” Emefiele added.
The INEC chairman had assured the CBN governor that the elections in 2023 will be the best in Nigerian history, but said that questions had been made regarding the procedures leading up to the vote.
While the Commission has moved all of its accounts at the state and federal levels to the apex bank, Yakubu claimed some of the services provided to the Commission require payment in cash