The Peoples Democratic Party’s (PDP) former vice president and presidential contender for the February 25, 2023, contest, was criticized by the presidency on Sunday for allegedly spreading false information about President Bola Tinubu’s government.
According to the presidency, the previous president did not offer a superior course of action to what Olayemi Cardoso, the governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), and his colleagues are doing at the top bank.
The presidency has defended former Vice President Atiku Abubakar’s claim that CBN’s FX management policy was rushed without proper planning and stakeholder consultations, stating that it was false and preposterous. The statement was signed by Special Adviser Bayo Onanuga.
The statement read: “Former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar, in an attempt to rubbish the foreign exchange policy of the Tinubu administration, got his facts muddled up again.
“He also failed to prescribe a better policy option to what Governor Olayemi Cardoso and his team are executing at the apex bank.
“First of all, it was not true that President Tinubu’s meeting last Thursday with the 36 State governors was centred on discussing foreign exchange crisis and currency fluctuation.
“What was discussed in the main was food supply and how to drastically reduce food prices. The Minister of Information, Alhaji Mohammed Idris, gave a briefing about the meeting, revealing the highlights to State House Correspondents.
“One was that the meeting established a nexus between the state of security and the rising cost of food. Another was that hoarders are warehousing food, creating artificial scarcity and thus enabling the high cost of food items.”
The statement said that the choices made at the meeting addressed the major issues raised, including the need to arm and empower forest rangers, increase police recruitment, and expand the National Economic Council’s state police discussion.
President Tinubu confirmed his support for the release of 42,000 metric tons of grains from the national reserve, according to the statement that was also included.