Senator Adams Oshiomhole has claimed that the Labour Party’s Peter Obi secured victory over President Bola Tinubu in Lagos during the 2023 presidential election because of the public outrage generated by the naira redesign policy and the accompanying cash scarcity.
Freshnews.ng reports that Oshiomhole made the remarks on Monday while speaking during an interview on TVC, where he argued that the policy introduced under former President Muhammadu Buhari severely affected Nigerians and weakened support for the ruling APC in Lagos.
The Edo North senator said many residents were unable to access money deposited in their bank accounts, with thousands spending nights at ATMs before eventually turning to POS operators as cash became increasingly scarce.
He insisted that the hardship experienced during the period significantly shaped voters’ choices and contributed to Obi’s victory over Tinubu in Lagos.
According to him, “I have said this, but many people may not agree. Obi was produced by an unusual situation. When a ruling party decided to destroy itself as to make anybody running election on its platform unelectable. It is that confusion that brought those votes to Peter Obi.
“I can speak to it. Former President Muhammadu Buhari suddenly changed the colour of the currency and virtually confiscated people’s money.
“People had money in the bank, but they can’t access it, they go to ATM machine, they queue all night to get 10,000, and after a week, even the ATM were dried of cash.
“People started going to the Point-on-Sale, POS. And I remember one statement somebody made, which captured the situation, that why will you queue all night to withdraw 5000? Then you go and queue for two nights to get 10 liters of PMS and then those people expect that on election day, you will queue to vote for them?
“It is this anger that, in my view, deliberately created by the president before Tinubu that made people vote against the APC in Lagos, making Peter Obi to defeat President Tinubu.”
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