The Central Bank of Nigeria has deflated rumours of its plans to halt financial transactions from the 23rd to 27 February 2023, towards the front of the upcoming elections.
A WhatsApp message stating that the apex bank will shut down all electronic bank networks between Thursday and Monday in order to prevent vote-buying went viral at the beginning of the week.
Sharing a copy of the said message via its verified Instagram page on Wednesday, CBN stated that the report was false and advised the public to “beware of fake news.”
The fake news circulated amid the naira redesign policy and currency swap, which had resulted in the scarcity of cash, bank queues, riots, and the burning of banks across several regions in the country.
In the middle of the trending messages suggesting that commercial banks will close its services. The ACAMB President, Rasheed Bolarinwa, also supported the CBN in deflating the rumours On Wednesday in his statement:
He said faceless authors concocted the messages and their motive, he said, was to cause disaffection among Nigerians and the Deposit Monetary Banks (DMBs).
He said, “ACAMB hereby wishes to deflate the fake news in its entirety and wishes to assure Nigerians and the banking public that there is no iota of truth in the viral message that is being circulated. Up until this moment, no Deposit Money Banks (DMBs) or other institutions providing financial services have received any directive or communication from the CBN to close the doors of their physical banking halls or shut their digital platforms and online banking channels against their customers because of elections.
The ACAMB President in conclusion assures customers that their respective banks have put in place measures to ensure that depositors can as usual, access money in their accounts during this period.
In addition, customers who wish to carry out transfers or use electronic banking services will have unhindered access to these services before, during, and after the elections.
