Suspected members of the Islamic State of West Africa Province (ISWAP) have distributed huge amounts of old naira notes to scores of passengers along the Maiduguri/Monguno highway in the Lake Chad Basin, Borno State.

It was gathered that the ISWAP members carried out the distribution on Saturday ahead of the deadline of the Central Bank of Nigeria’s (CBN) cashless policy.

According to Daily Trust, a source said that the ISWAP members were dressed in military camouflage and drove two gun trucks.

A resident, Bakura Ibrahim, said the insurgents positioned themselves under a tree and stood by the roadside with bags of old naira notes.

“We left Monguno at about 12 noon. As we approached Mairari, there were no existing checkpoints in the area; we were apprehensive.

“They stopped us and asked if we were going to Maiduguri, then they started giving each person 100,000 old naira notes, but we could not believe it. They gave each occupant of the Golf Volkswagen,” Bakura said.

Another source added, “The group simply told us, “If you think you can go to their banks and change it to new naira, go and do so; may Allah make it beneficial to you.”