Mike Ozekhome SAN.

Rights activist and Senior Advocate of Nigeria Mike Ozekhome SAN, has said that the naira swap, also called redesign policy by the Central Bank of Nigeria CBN has adversely affected the political elites and their vote-buying allies more than the masses.

This is an indication that the politicians, who are clamouring for the extension of the February 10, 2023 deadline or even an outright reversal of the policy, claiming it was in the interest of the Nigerian masses are actually doing that for their selfish interest.

Ozekhome said the naira swap policy by the CBN, has not affected the masses like the political class.

Featuring on Channels TV programme: “The 2023 Verdict”, in response to the Supreme Court’s ruling that temporarily stopped the Federal Government from extending the deadline for the naira swap, the Senior Advocate faulted claims that the clamour for the suspension of the policy was in the interest of the masses, insisting it was self-serving.

“It affects politicians and vote buyers more than ordinary citizens.

“Because a voter usually registers near his or her home, in some isolated cases, they have registered at a location far from their homes.

“But the people that would be most hit by this policy are the politicians; at times using the ordinary man and woman as surrogates to protest and barricade roads so as to show how bad the policy is because they no longer have access to cheap money”, he said.

Noting that banks are owned by most politicians, the senior advocate lamented that the country has been “captured by known non-state actors, by the elites.

“There are some individuals that are now richer than Nigeria on our N21 trillion budget,” he added.

Source: Daily Post