The fake discredited statement falsely claimed that the CBN had extended the legal status of the old N200, N500, and N1000 notes by 70 days.
Nigeria's first lady Aisha Buhari has blamed hackers for an Instagram post of a fake Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN)'s statement that appeared on her page on Tuesday morning.
PREMIUM TIMES reported how Mrs Buhari deleted the misleading post shortly after the CBN denounced it as fake on Tuesday.
The fake statement falsely claimed that the CBN had extended the legal status of the old N200, N500, and N1000 notes by 70 days.
Mrs Buhari is now disclaiming the post which also appeared on her verified Facebook page. The post was liked by more than 2,000 Facebook users and attracted over 1,000 comments within an hour of its being posted.
"This is without a doubt the criminal actions of the person(s) who were responsible for deleting quite a number of my posts since 2018 to late last year," Mrs Buhari said Tuesday evening.
"This person is a hacker," the first lady added. "Criminally minded with the intention to continue attacking my reputation through my social media platforms."
She said between 2018 and 2022, the hackers deleted at least 18 posts on her social media handles.
"I am assuring you that this is the first and last I am disclaiming fake news on my handle," Mrs Buhari added, saying it is the responsibility of the security agencies to find out the hackers and "take all necessary actions."
The Nigerian first lady has been out of public life since she reportedly ordered the arrest of a Nigerian student in the Presidential Villa last year.
In this season of electioneering, the first lady has used social media to send messages and mobilise support mostly for Bola Tinubu, the presidential candidate of the All Progressive Congress (APC). Mr Tinubu is favoured by the first lady to succeed her husband who leaves office in May.
Sign up for free AllAfrica Newsletters
Get the latest in African news delivered straight to your inbox
Mrs Buhari is apparently opposed to the new naira redesign policy that has inflicted pain on millions of Nigerians for weeks.
On 1 February, the first lady shared a clip from an interview granted Channels Television by Governor Nasir El-Rufai attributing the controversial policy to members of President Muhammadu Buhari's cabal working towards the defeat of the ruling party in the upcoming elections.
Mr El-Rufai's claim echoed Mrs Buhari's famous statement during her husband's first time in office that members of the president's cabal had hijacked the government.
In the last quarter of 2022, the Central Bank of Nigeria introduced the redesigned denominations of N200, N500, and N1,000 naira notes. There has not been much dispute about the appropriateness of the policy but on its implementation which has resulted in a growing sense of anxiety in the West African nation.
Mr Buhari has restored the validity of the N200 notes but insisted that the N500 and N1000 notes had ceased to be legal tender.
Mr Buhari's directive violated an 8 February order of the Supreme Court directing the continued use of all the old notes till when it would conduct a hearing on the matter.
The case comes up in court on Wednesday.
