By Elizabeth Chukwuma
Sthere had been pressures from several quarters, both within and outside country on Godwin Emefiele, governor of Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, and Chairman, of the apex Bank Monetary Policy Committee, MPC, to resign in order to concentrate on his new vocation. The pressure became pronounced last week when he allegedly paid the N100million All progressive Congress, APC, fee, to purchase the Presidential forms against the 2023, general election.
. The worry of some top bankers who spoke to The Value News on condition of anonymity was that Emefiele, the CBN governor have brought the Banking Institution into disrepute as people would now view policies introduced by the Bank with suspicions as it may no longer command the respect of Nigerians. They noted that by allegedly joining the APC Presidential race he without designing his job, he has made a mockery of the CBN as he could no longer assure Nigerians that he is effectively control of the affairs of the Bank which may not be too good for the country.
Note that as Chairman of the 11 -man CBN Monetary Policy Committee, MPC, which had been involved in formulating the country’s monetary and Credit policies, over the last seven years, Emefiele may have been doing everything within his powers to please the power brokers to retain his position and he did as he was reappointed for another five years last year by The Katsina state born Nigerian President.
The Committee , according to informed sources is the highest policy making Committee of the apex bank with the mandate review the economic and Financial conditions in the economy, , appropriate stance of Policy in the short to medium term, and review regularly, the CBN, monetary policy framework, and adopt changes where necessary as well as communicate monetary and financial policy decisions to the public and ensure the credibility of the model of transmission mechanism of monetary policy.
It also has the mandate of determining and projecting the daily injection and withdrawal of liquidity through the apex bank, forecasting daily liquidity gap, designing the strategy for closing the liquidity gap, and identifying the specific instruments to be used in closing the liquidity gap.
At the last MPC, meeting, between January 21 and 22, 2022, had retained the Monetary Policy Rate, MPR, AT 11.5%, retained the Asymmetric Corridor , retain the Cash Reserve Ratio, CRR at 27.5% and the liquidity ratio at 30%. May believe that been 2021 and now , that Emefiele picked interest in running for the country’s Presidency he has paid little or no attention to the country’s monetary and financial policies to fix the economy that was on the verge of collapse.
Emefiele, who still likes his position as CBN, governor, may have known that the game is up that he has come out to tell Nigerians that he has not taken a decision on running for the country’s Presidency on the ticket of the ruling APC. He had said that a group had had raised personal funds ‘’to purchase the APC Expression of Interest and Presidential nomination forms for him’’. The same situation may have played out in the case of Akinwumi Adesina, a former minister of Agriculture and Rural Development during President Goodluck Jonathan Administration and now President of African Development Bank, ADB, where a coalition of 28 groups were said to have purchased the ruling APC Presidential Form for him.
While the case of Emefiele is very worrisome is because he is a serving CBN, governor, under President Muhammadu Buhari, a retired Army General Administration over the last seven years.
The CBN , governor may have seen that the game is up that he appears to have rejected the APC Presidential Form 12 going by his Statement. ‘’Should I answer their calls and decide to seek Presidential nomination, I will use my hard earned-earned savings from over 35 years of banking Leadership to by my own Expression of Interest and nomination Forms without proxies inn an open and transparent manner in full compliance with the Laws and the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria as amended.
He had asked rhetorically,’’ if I fail to run for an elective office in the 2023 general elections, would it take anything away from me? Certainly no. ‘’I will continue to serve under the Leadership of Buhari’’, he had said.He may have shown that he is in a horn of dilemma whether to honour of the proxies who had bought the APC, Presidential nomination forms for him or not. Hear him: This is a serious decision that requires God’s divine intervention ‘’, stressing that in the next few days the Almighty God will direct him on what to do’’.
Many believe that there is no way the proxies could not have contacted Emefiele, the CBN, governor before going ahead to buy the APC Presidential forms on for him. They may have taken advantage of his close working relationship with the Katsina born Nigerian President, to purchase the APC, Presidential nomination Forms with the believe that he will give his tacit support it.
The questions on the lips of most people was that: if truly he did not endorse the action of the proxies from the onset, he should have raised alarm or reported the matter to the Yusuf Magaji Bichi, Director General, Department of State Security, DSS, or Usman Alkali Baba, Inspector General of Police, IGP, to investigate the intention of the alleged proxies but he kept silent, meaning that he approved of their move.
More so, critics had expected him to have taken up the matter with the retired Amy General over what the alleged proxies had done in order to get his response but he also failed to do so fueling speculations making the rounds that he was merely testing the waters to get people’s reaction and he got it: resign.
The Nigerian President, according political associates may not have discouraged any presidential aspirant who had approached him to pick the APC Presidential form as long as the aspirant has the N100 million to buy the Expression of Interest and nomination forms. The message was very clear that even if Emefiele had tabled the matter before him he w would still give him the nod to buy the APC Presidential nomination Forms.
He may have been working with the party National Working Committee, NWC, headed by Senator Abdullahi Adamu, to use the sale of the party Presidential nomination Forms to raise funds to prosecute the 2023, general elections at the state and Federal levels. There is no gainsaying the fact that Emefiele may have fallen into the trap of the proxies who may working for some power brokers in the Presidency to trap him to facilitate his removal.
Notwithstanding the claims of the CN governor, that he never asked ny proxy form him, to purchase the APC Presidential nomination Forms, Rotimi Akeredolu, a Legal luminary and governor of Ondo state, on the Platform of the APC, will not take it. He may have spoken the mind of the other governors when he asked Emefiele ‘’to resign as CBN governor over ‘’the latter’s venture into the murky waters of Nigerian politics by joining the 2023 Presidential race on the ticket of the APC’’.
The Ondo state governor who could not hide his feelings had said that ‘’the combination of the public service rules, CBN Act, and the 1999 Constitution, as amended had exposed not only the oddity inherent in this action’’. He noted Emefiele, as a Nigerian citizen has the right to belong to any political party but his position as the country’s CBN governor makes the move ‘’brazen’’.
Until, Emefiele, who was said to have been a pillar, to Buhari, in the formulation of the Administration economic policies, over the last seven years, there are indications that, he had been linked ‘’to partisan politics since 2021. This is evident with the purchase of branded vehicles for his electioneering Campaigns. Enough of Emefiele and APC political game.
Worried by the outcry of Nigerians over the hardship in the country and the closure of Federal Universities for much of this year, while the ruling APC , presidential aspirants are using N100 million each to purchase the party of Interest and nomination forms to contest 2023, general elections on the ticket of the APC, whicle their Counterpart in the Opposition PDP, had used N80 million to buy the forms at N40 million each, may have informed why Abdulrasheed Bawa, Chairman, Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, had stepped in to investigate the source of income of these huge amount of money spent by the politicians, to buy the Presidential and governorship forms.
Appearing on Channels Television, recently, Bawa, the EFCC, Chairman, had said that ‘’when it comes to the issue of monitoring election funds as well as the Candidates funds that has to do with the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, and other related agencies, he disclosed that they are working together with these other agencies to ensure that ‘’we follow the money and to know the source, whether it is legitimate or illegitimate’’.
He may have gladdened the heart of Nigerians when he said that the agency had to intervene to know the source of these huge amounts used by the politicians both at the state and Federal levels to purchase forms to participate in 2023 general elections in the ruling APC and the Opposition PDP.’’We want ensure that corrupt elements are not giving leadership positions in this country in 2023’, he had said.
He had said the agency officials are working ‘’behind the scene to ensure that at least that it make its positions known on some certain actors within the political space in this country’’. Ever since the EFCC, Chairman, broke the news that the agency officials are working behind the scene to unravel how the political actors raised the fund, may have sent fear down the spine of the Presidential and governorship aspirants in the two dominant parties, APC an PDP.
Recall that 17 Presidential aspirants had paid the N80 million to pick the PDP Presidential nomination Forms a. In the APC, no fewer than 20 Political gladiators who were said to have had declared their Presidential bid for the 2023, general elections as at Friday May 6, 2022, were said to have purchased the party nomination Forms including using proxies to do so.
