Emefiele: Coalition Urges Support For Security Agencies

A coalition of Christian and Muslim youth groups has advised individuals or groups protesting the arrest and questioning of the former governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Godwin Emefiele to support the security agencies to do their work.

According to the group, protest will only derail the opportunity of fixing Nigeria’s economy.

The group which is made up of civil society organisations such as: Gatekeepers Foundation, Christian Muslim Youth Association of Nigeria (CMYAN), National Anti-Corruption Network, and the National Campaign Against Vandals, said the security agencies should be given all the support they need to carry out holistic investigation on Nigeria’s economy.

A statement jointly signed on behalf of the coalition by the director, Gatekeepers Foundation, Chief Tunji Ajiboye, and director of publicity, Christian Muslim Youth Association of Nigeria (CMYAN), Peter Davids, urged the security agencies to beam their searchlight on anyone found to be sabotaging Nigeria’s economy.

The coalition said the former CBN governor Godwin Emefiele was desperate to become the president of Nigeria and in the process jettisoned decorum and decency and ventured into a terrain reserved for politicians, adding that his involvement in partisan politics was in violation of extant laws establishing the CBN, thereby neglecting his critical role of a financial regulator resulting in the massive fall in the value of the naira, which was exchanging for N190 to one United States dollar before Emefiele’s assumption of office in 2014, but which depreciated to as much as N750 at the parallel market in 2023.

The group also accused Emefiele of encouraging forex arbitrage and round-tripping which was used to turn his cronies and friends to overnight billionaires without any tangible source of income while at the same time spending billions of dollars in an unsuccessful bid to defend the value of the naira.

As if that was not enough, the coalition said it concurs with several reports which seem to suggest a link between the former CBN governor and terror financing in a country that is already grappling with massive insecurity on all fronts.

In picking a replacement for Emefiele, the coalition expressed joy that among the pool of deputy governors in the CBN exists a financial expert with international experience, having played an impressive role in directing the economies of not just Nigeria but other African countries with the instrumentality of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and possessing the requisite knowledge and qualifications that are capable of changing the fortunes of the apex bank for good.