The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has denied the rumour that it plans to shut down electronic banking infrastructure on Thursday and Friday to prevent vote-buying by politicians.
The Bank in a tweet referencing the misleading information asks the public to be wary of “fake news”.
The viral fake news has caused anxiety to some members of the public ahead of Saturday’s presidential election.
Only on Tuesday, the CBN equally debunked the news that it would be recirculating the old N500, and N1, 000 already demonetized.
But, in a reaction, the Apex Bank said it would stick to President Muhammadu Buhari’s directive that only the initially banned N200 banknotes would be released back into the economy.
The controversies are coming in the wake of CBN’s naira redesign policy, which saw the federal government replacing the aforementioned old banknotes with their newly redesigned types.
However, the policy has caused hardship to Nigerians and, majorly, small businesses due to regulated cash withdrawals and insufficient currencies at banks and Automated Teller Machine points.
Riots broke out across many Nigerian cities, leading to burning and destruction of banks and their facilities.
On Wednesday, Nigeria’s apex court directed that the status quo be maintained while it adjourned till March 3 the suit filed by some states aiming to stop the federal government from implementing the policy.
Despite the Supreme Court’s ruling that all currencies remained legal tender till the determination of the substantive suit, President Buhari stated in a national broadcast that only the old N200 note was still valid.
