Suspected members of the Islamic State of West Africa Province (ISWAP) have distributed huge amounts of old notes to scores of commuters in the Lake Chad Basin ahead of the deadline of the Central Bank of Nigeria’s (CBN) cashless policy, sources have said.
Our correspondent gathered that the incident occurred after Mairari village, along the Maiduguri/Monguno highway on Saturday in Guzamala LGA of Borno State.
A source told the Daily Trust in Maiduguri that the ISWAP members were dressed in military camouflage and drove two gun trucks.
A resident, Bakura Ibrahim, said the insurgents positioned themselves under a tree and stood by the roadside with bags of old naira notes.
“We left Monguno at about 12 noon. As we approached Mairari, there were no existing checkpoints in the area; we were apprehensive.
“They stopped us and asked if we were going to Maiduguri, then they started giving each person 100,000 old naira notes, but we could not believe it. They gave each occupant of the Golf Volkswagen,” Bakura said.
Another source added, “The group simply told us, “If you think you can go to their banks and change it to new naira, go and do so; may Allah make it beneficial to you.”
I can see the Naira swap policy is working, but it is just a matter of time, these guys will go back to their “trade” and request for new notes.