Oshiomhole slams Soludo over alleged misappropriation of forex as CBN governor

- Soludo delivered a keynote address titled ‘The hard facts to rescue the Nigerian economy’, in which he highlighted some of the failures of the President Muhammadu Buhari-led government

- Speaking for the government, Oshiomhole said the ex-CBN boss reportedly helped some banks to illegal foreign exchange during his tenure

- Soludo denied the allegation and accused Oshiomhole of lying because he had no reply to give for the current government's failures on the Nigerian economy 

Former Edo state governor Adams Oshiomhole and ex-Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) governor have publicly disagreed over how the Nigerian economy is being managed.

The Punch reports that the ‘fight’ occurred at Vanguard’s Economic Discourse in Lagos on Friday, March 10 after Prof. Charles Soludo delivered a keynote address titled ‘The hard facts to rescue the Nigerian economy’, highlighting some of the failures of the President Muhammadu Buhari-led government, particularly in terms of fiscal and monetary policies.

But during the panel session, the minister of solid minerals development Dr. Kayode Fayemi defended the government and Oshiomhole accused Soludo of wrongly allocating millions of dollars to two new generation banks shortly before the naira was devalued.

He said: “I got some intelligence from my comrades who worked in the system and we found out that the CBN under Soludo had just allocated couple of millions of dollars to two, as they were then known, new generation banks.

  

But during the panel session, the minister of solid minerals development Dr. Kayode Fayemi defended the government and Oshiomhole accused Soludo of wrongly allocating millions of dollars to two new generation banks shortly before the naira was devalued.

He said: “I got some intelligence from my comrades who worked in the system and we found out that the CBN under Soludo had just allocated couple of millions of dollars to two, as they were then known, new generation banks.

“And I asked Prof (Soludo), if you were going to devalue by Friday, why did you auction dollar at a lower rate on Thursday? I accused Soludo, I said you have enriched these two young men to the tune of N8bn, courtesy of your internal abuse.“When the regulator behaved in this manner, then the Nigerian condition is much more serious than we can appreciate it. We need to deal with issues of attitude.”