Former Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and Gubernatorial candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Anambra State, Professor Chukwuma Soludo, has said he was ready for any inquisition about his stewardship at the apex bank.
Professor Soludo said in a statement from his campaign orgnaisation that insinuations that he was hinted with any bribe relations to the Printing of Naira notes in polymer were not correct.
In the statement issued by his Legal Assistant Mr. Dan Obiekie yesterday, he said: "Neither ‘The Age’ newspaper nor anyone has accused Soludo of demanding or receiving bribe from anyone. The allegation by ‘The Age’ is a speculation that ‘senior government officials and high-level Nigerians’ may have been paid bribe. Without any specificity or evidence, we find the allegation/insinuations to be wild. We are not aware of anyone who received any bribe whatsoever in relation to the polymer substrate.
According to him ‘The Age’ newspaper was simply accusing the Australian company ‘Securrency’ of paying high commissions to its international marketing consultants and therefore speculated that the commissions may have been used to bribe senior officials in countries where polymer is being used."
Obiekie argued that the Australian parliament has debated the matter and dismissed it, while the Australian police has been investigating the matter since May 2009 and no report of wrong doing has been issued so far either against the Company (Securrency) or anyone.
"He said the Soludo camp was interested in the result of the investigation and would be highly surprised if anyone in the CBN during Soludo’s tenure received any bribe, adding, "for sections of the media to be screaming headlines of ‘bribery scandal’ without naming anyone who received bribe is not decent journalism. It is also politics at its worst."
He explained that the polymer substrate was introduced because of its superior features and cost effectiveness, stating that the former President and Board of the Central Bank approved the introduction of polymer (on experimental basis with the N20) to realise its benefits.
Many countries of the world, he said, are also migrating to the polymer substrate. The success of the N20 and its long life span relative to paper currency (hence cost effectiveness) warranted the approval by the current President that the remaining lower denominations be printed in polymer, Obiekie added.
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