Tinubu never asked Buhari to print N22.7trn – Presidency fires back at Atiku’s aide

The Presidency has dismissed claims that President Bola Tinubu advised former President Muhammadu Buhari to print Naira in 2020.

A Special Adviser on Information and Strategy to the President, Bayo Onanuga, described such a claim as erroneous.

Recall that a spokesman of the 2023 Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, Paul Ibe, had claimed Tinubu advised Buhari to print Naira in 2020.

Ibe’s remark followed Minister of Finance, Wale Edun’s comment on the printing of N22.7 trillion under Buhari’s administration.

Edun had said the printing of N22.7 trillion by the Central Bank of Nigeria in the name of a Ways and Means loan under Buhari’s government and ex-CBN governor, Godwin Emefiele was responsible for the current rising inflation and economic hardship in Nigeria.

Speaking during an interface with the Senate Committee on Finance, the minister said the Ways and Means loans of N22.7 trillion under the past administration were done aimlessly.

He further stated that the alleged reckless spending of the overdraft collected from the CBN under Emefiele largely accounted for the country’s food and security crises.

The minister vowed that Tinubu’s government would audit the CBN printing in the last eight years.

Reacting, Onanuga recalled that Tinubu had clarified the issue when it was first reported.

Posting on X, Onanuga wrote: “President Tinubu did not advise the Buhari administration to print Naira, the way it was erroneously reported in 2020. He provided a clarification in Thisday of 30 March, 2020, a day after the false report came out.”