People are asking: Did CBN say it would shut down all bank transactions from today, Thursday, 23rd of February, 2023 to Sunday, 27th of February, 2023?
Well, the answer is a capital No! Contrary to the news making the rounds, the Central Bank of Nigeria will not shut down financial transactions nationwide.
The rumour:
Panic has written over the faces of many Nigerians over the week as news surfaced that the CBN was going to shutdown all financial transactions nationwide until after the election.
The rumour claimed that people will not be able to make withdrawals from their accounts or deposit money as all banks will not function.
Also, the rumour which circulated widely online threw Nigerians into more panic mode when it warned every Nigerian to go stock their houses with food that could last for, at least, one week.
The rumour was being peddled via WhatsApp.
It was titled, “Special report “CBN PLANS TO SHUT DOWN FINANCIAL TRANSACTION FROM THURSDAY 23 OF FEBUARY TILL 27TH OF FEBUARY..GO AND STOCK YOUR HOME….”
According to the report, the CBN has ordered all banks to yank off their networks from Thursday till Sunday or Monday after the election.
It claimed that the move is to block politicians from transferring money to eligible voters in form of vote-buying.
The rumour reads thus:
“Anyhow you can get money between today and tomorrow, get and keep it, also whatever transfer you want to do, do it between today and tomorrow.
“Information I’m hearing is that, as of Thursday, bank networks will go off till Sunday or Monday, so that politicians will not be able to transfer money to anybody for vote.
“So buy enough food at home, do your transfer now because the next five days will be difficult please.”
CBN Reacts:
Meanwhile, CBN has reacted to the rumour, describing it as fake.
In a post referring to the fake news and posted on its social media handle, the CBN urged Nigerians to beware of fake news.
The CBN said the news making the round is pure fake news.
PLEASE BE WARY OF FAKE NEWS! pic.twitter.com/Yhv9DKyL10
— Central Bank of Nigeria (@cenbank) February 22, 2023
Similar Rumour:
There was similar rumour recently which claimed that the CBN shutdown digital banks like Opay, Kuda, Cowrywise, PalmPay and others.
However, the digital banks debunked the rumours and there was no confirmation from the apex bank if it shutdown the digital banks.
Also, the digital banks remain very functional and effective too.
Read full report titled, “Has CBN Shutdown Opay, Kuda, PalmPay, Other Digital Banks?
Nigerians panic, go on buying spree:
Meanwhile, following the fake news, Nigerians have gone on a buying spree of groceries to stock their homes.
A look at many markets, malls and stores show a large increase of customers trooping in to buy, majorly food items to stock their homes.
Although movements would be restricted on election day, Nigerians are aware of this and even though the rumour is fake, most Nigerians have gone ahead to stock their homes with food.
This shows how uncertain the people are about the election coming up on Saturday.
It would also interest you to read our report on who is likely to win the presidential election as forecast by Artificial Intelligence (AI) chatbot, ChatGPT.
In the report, the OpenAI’s chatbot which registered over 100 million users in just few days, predicted conditions for which any of the major candidates will win Saturday’s presidential election.
Read here.
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