More trouble seems to be on the way of the erstwhile Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Godwin Emefiele, following allegations by the Presidency that many approvals for the release of funds by the apex bank under him, did not have the signature of former President Muhammadu Buhari.
By Emma Ogbuehi
More trouble seems to be on the way of the erstwhile Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Godwin Emefiele, following allegations by the Presidency that many approvals for the release of funds by the apex bank under him, did not have the signature of former President Muhammadu Buhari.
The latest accusation may add to the travails the former CBN boss has been going through since his ouster from office. Emefiele is currently facing many legal challenges from the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), a situation that has seen him in and out of court rooms.
The allegation of fund approvals under Emefiele not having Buhari’s signature was raised by the Special Adviser to President Bola Tinubu on Media and Publicity, Ajuri Ngelale, in an interview with media personality, Chude Jideonwo, aired on Channels Television on Monday night.
Ngelale in the conversation, said that the last administration has to take some responsibilities for some of the things that happened in the apex bank under Emefiele.
“President Bola Tinubu has come out several times in fairness to him (Buhari), to say, ‘Look, this is what happened under the previous administration’. I think we have to acknowledge the fact that he (Tinubu) understands more than anyone that many of the approvals within the CBN that brought us to this point have no signature to President Muhammadu Buhari and had no knowledge of President Muhammadu Buhari,” Ngelale said.
Ngelale said that while Buhari had achievements in other areas such as infrastructure and ease of doing business, his negligence in what was happening in the CBN brought the economy to where it is today.
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He said that even though President Tinubu supported Buhari’s administration, he has not hesitated to disclose to Nigerians things that were not healthy to the economy that happened under his predecessor.
“We are not hiding behind the figure on this issue, I think I have been very clear that the prior administration does have to take responsibility for the fact that Governor Emefiele was left in office even though he was inherited and he was given a second term to continue doing what he ended up doing.
“That responsibility and that decision were made by President Muhammadu Buhari irrespective of the fact that President Buhari knew what was going on in the Central Bank of Nigeria. So, there is a responsibility to be taken there, I have to be very categorical about that.
“Now, that does not however mean that you throw the baby out with the bath water. We don’t say because these things happened in the Central Bank of Nigeria President Buhari was devoid of achievement or devoid of progressive administration.
“Having infrastructure matters, working on ease of doing business, making sure that people can register a company in 48 hours as against six months before they came into office, these things actually have impacts with the responsibility attracting investments into the country.”
Ngelale cited the $6.2m that was said to have released in cash by the CBN allegedly for the purpose of taking care of foreign election observers as one of those approvals that had Buhari’s signature which turned out to have been allegedly forged.
Emefiele was first appointed as CBN governor by President Goodluck Jonathan but was retained by Buhari who renewed his tenure at the apex bank.
