abokiFX denies allegation, temporarily suspends online publication of rates
The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has disclosed that the activities of abokiFX, a popular website that aggregates the unregulated market rates of the naira, is unlawful and has declared the founder Oniwinde Adedotun wanted.
The CBN governor, Godwin Emefiele, said that after the conclusion of the Monetary Policy Committee meeting Adedotun was involved in “illegal forex trading”. Emiefiele accused Adedodun of fixing the naira rate without contacting any Bureau De Change.
The CBN which has reportedly blocked the 20 accounts associated with Adedotun and AbokiFX said that the founder uses his website for forex manipulations and speculations by buying forex to make a profit.
Emefiele further revealed that Oniwinde started abokiFX operation in 2015 and has since exploited the economy by taking position while manipulating the exchange rate.
Emefiele promised to ensure that Oniwinde is captured and made to answer to the law.
The naira has been losing value since the CBN stopped selling forex to the BDCs because they had become a conduit for illicit forex flows and graft. The CBN added that it will call off the processing of applications for BDC licenses in the country.
AbokiFx respond, says it doesn’t deal in FX
In a statement shared on its Twitter handle @abokifx explaining its position, the firm denied reports that it trades in foreign exchange adding that it does not have the power to manipulate the rates.
“abokiFX purely provides benchmark parallel rate information which helps guide our users in almost 200 countries across the world. abokiFX does NOT TRADE FX, which we have always maintained in our emails and social media platforms.
“We do not trade FX neither do we have the power to manipulate the rates as we DO NOT CREATE the rates.”
The statement said that AbokiFX is yet to receive any official communication from the CBN. “Outside the media allegation, we have not received any communication from any government body, and our accounts are not closed as speculated in the media.”
On the way forward, the firm said it will temporarily suspend online rate publication.
“abokiFX is fully functional BUT we will not be publishing any form of rates on our platform for now. We sincerely hope this suspension will lead to the Naira appreciation from next week.
“With our decision to temporarily suspend online rate publication, we are aware that there will be limited visibility of parallel rates information which will impact decision making for many.”
