Group Hails Tinubu For Emefiele Probe, Warns Against Cover-up

A group known as Citizens Participation Against Corruption Initiative has lauded President Bola Tinubu for mustering the courage to direct the probe of the suspended Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Godwin Emefiele.

The Executive Director of the Initiative, Bishir Dauda Sabuwar, stated this at a press conference on Sunday. He also commended Jim Obazee, the special investigator whose panel uncovered that Emefiele illegally kept billions of naira in 593 bank accounts in the United States, United Kingdom, and China.

Sabuwar asked Tinubu to be courageous and allow for an unfettered investigation to bring whoever is involved or responsible for the allegations to book. He said Nigeria cannot continue going after scapegoats and shielding the big masquerades behind their actions.

He added that leadership is about responsibility, and those who gave approvals to Emefiele or kept him in office despite wrecking the economy should be made to answer for their misdeeds.

Sabuwar noted that the beneficiaries of Emefiele’s misdeeds may try to subvert the course of justice. He urged Judges and lawyers not to allow themselves to be used by plunderers of the nation’s resources to shortchange the course of justice.

“Nigerians cannot simply forget how CBN, under Emefiele, haphazardly implemented the ‘NAIRA REDESIGN POLICY,’ otherwise referred to by some experts as ‘money confiscation.’ This ill-thought policy not only aggravated the suffering of Nigerian citizens, with people sleeping in ATM queues to the extent that riots broke out in some states but also lacked transparency, and accountability, and led to political controversies.

“After reading the Obazee Report, we are dumbfounded to learn that Emefiele did not even get the approval of then-President Buhari or a recommendation by the board of CBN, as provided in Section 19 (1) of the CBN Act 2007. Yet, he went ahead and implemented a policy that sabotaged Nigeria. It’s very unfortunate that the report revealed it was Tunde Sabi’u who directed Emefiele to redesign the Naira,” he said.

Sabuwar also highlighted another major reason why Emefiele and his accomplices must be prosecuted, which is the way they fleeced Nigeria under the guise of “Ways and Means financing.” According to the Obazee report, he could not account for N17.369 Trillion.

“The ‘ways and means’ that compounded Nigeria’s debt was a scam. It was a conduit through which Emefiele and his co-travellers swindled Nigeria. Nigerians must rise to ensure this brazen impunity doesn’t succeed.

“Godwin Ifeanyi Emefiele was once accused of financing a terrorist organisation. He was also alleged to have operated 593 offshore accounts without the approval of the president and the CBN board.

“Many Nigerians are losing hope in the fight against corruption due to numerous reports on grand corruption scandals in Nigeria without actions taken against the perpetrators.

“This is where we expect the government of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to show the difference in the fight against the hydra-headed monster called corruption,” he said.