The Chairman, Senate Committee on Judiciary, Human Rights and Legal Matters, Michael Opeyemi Bamidele, on Wednesday declared the Central Bank of Nigeria, (CBN), with its naira redesign policy and the attendant acute shortage of naira notes, as the most outstanding threat to the 2023 elections.

Senator Bamidele stated this at a one-day special hearing on “The Extent of Implementation Of The Electoral Act, 2022 Ahead Of The Conduct Of The 2023 General Election,” organised by the Joint National Assembly Committee on INEC and Electoral Matter.

The apex bank’s policy had caused acute shortage of naira notes nationwide with protest breaking out in some parts of the country.

INEC Chairman, Prof Mahmood Yakubu, at a meeting with CBN management on Tuesday, expressed concern over the impact of the naira redesign policy on the successful conduct of the elections, saying situations may arise requiring immediate cash payments for essential services during polls.

But the apex bank assured that it would provide INEC with needed naira notes as required.

Bamidele, a member of the committee on electoral matter, said the selective cash withdrawal plan the electoral umpire worked out with the CBN on Tuesday, was not assuring as far as smooth conduct of the elections was concerned.

The senator said, “The CBN told us at the beginning of the policy that the targets were the so-called moneybags who stashed away billions in their closets. We thought those at the people they want to get at.

“We have now seen that it is the ordinary man on the streets. They are sleeping in the banking hall because they cannot have access to the little money they have. We must understand the political economy of an electoral process.

“Are we saying that INEC must rely on the intervention of the CBN for it to perform?

“If the police run into logistics problems, they would also run to CBN for selective intervention.

“We are fighting Boko Haram, if the military authorities could not access funds from their banks, they will also need to approach the CBN for selective intervention.

“These are issues and as a stakeholder, the CBN is the most outstanding threat to these elections holding as scheduled.

“The INEC should do its best. When the political class appear to have hold the nation to ransom as it appears now, it is the judiciary that will have to stand up and save the nation from the jugular of the political class.

INEC national commissioner, Mrs May Agbamuche, who represented the commission’s chairman, said violence could affect the credibility of the elections if the persistent attacks on the electoral body’s facilities were not checked.

*Text, except headline, courtesy of DAILY TRUST