CBN Threatens To Sanction Politicians Who Use Forex For Election Purposes, Says It Is Illegal

Godwin Emefiele, the CBN Governor, has insisted that it is illegal for politicians to withdraw their naira in exchange for dollar speculations for election purposes.

Emefiele made this known while responding to questions from journalists who pressed him on the likely impact of election spending on the value of the naira when compared to the dollars.

He said the apex bank is monitoring the situation and will continue to use its monetary policy (discretionary powers) tools to mop up excess liquidity in the system when it believes banks might be looking to facilitate election spending or speculate on forex.

Speaking on the use of forex for election purposes, he warned those who might be considering it to avoid doing so as it is illegal.

He also disclosed that the CBN has monitoring tools that can be used to track the suspicious movement of forex from one account to another.

“As for those who want to take naira from their account to buy dollars because of elections, I want to warn that it is illegal to do so.

"Whereas it will sound more convenient to carry dollars because you could carry little dollars but with a lot of value in your pocket, but if the security agencies hold you, you know the implication of that.

“We will continue from our own side, to use our own apparatus through which we monitor the movement of funds between customers or between banks and customers or from one bank to the other bank.

"And any bank that we find in those forms of transactions will be considered to be unauthorised or considered to be illegal.

"You can consider that your account will be placed on PND (Post No Debit)."

Post no Debit (PND) is a tool used by the CBN to place restrictions on the transfer of funds from any bank account in the country suspicious of being used illegally.