Emefiele: Why contracting Deloitte, for what purpose?
By Luke Onyekakeyah
The reported secret engagement of Deloitte consulting, the acclaimed world’s number one accounting firm to audit the forex dealings of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) under Mr. Godwin Emefiele, the immediate past Governor of the CBN, is a disgrace and an embarrassment to Nigeria. The country has been made a laughing stock to the international community. The action is insulting to Nigeria after three leading entities have investigated Emefiele and found him guiltless except some spurious allegations that were unproven. What is new that still needs to be investigated that Nigerians cannot do to warrant contracting a foreign body to do at exorbitant cost? It is tears for Nigeria!!
By this action, what the Tinubu administration is telling the world is that it has no faith in the Department of State Service (DSS), the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), and the so-called Special Investigator, Jim Obazee’s work. All the three took time to meticulously investigate Emefiele and found nothing incriminating to warrant legal prosecution. That being the case, what is the need in reopening a case that should be closed and Emefiele set free? Why hire a foreign body? Is the government saying that Nigerians have no brain and cannot handle their own affairs not until a white man is brought to handle it? How much is paid to hire Deloitte may, in itself, be a subject of speculation, since it requires thousands of dollars in scarce forex to engage the audit firm to work. Who is fooling who? Where is Nigeria’s sovereignty? Are there no rules and regulations governing how and who should investigate a public official, especially, in a country like Nigeria reeking in corruption? Who, in the history of corruption probes in Nigeria has faced a foreign investigative body? Why is Emefiele being used as a scapegoat?
The Godwin Emefiele’s case is as old as the Tinubu administration. Except that there is something fishy, something political in which case President Tinubu wants to extract a pound of flesh from Emefiele, this case ought to have been closed going by the reports of the DSS, EFCC and Jim Obazee if this were in a lawful decent society. But this is Nigeria, a lawless, corrupt and undisciplined society, where anything goes. Little wonder then why President Tinubu is digging deep on Emefiele.
We recall that Mr. Emefiele was the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria for over eight years. That position is never given to mere mortals, so to say, but to persons of highest proven integrity, persons assessed and adjudged to have unassailable conduct. The point must be made that the CBN is a renowned and revered corporate entity that cannot be run as a one man business. Apart from the president of the country who has the overriding authority, the CBN is run by a select group of high-powered board made up of men and women of integrity. That is to say, the CBN Governor does not have the power to overrule or override any decision taken by the board. As a matter of fact, the president, in this case, Muhammadu Buhari, under whom Emefiele worked, has the power to approve or disapprove the CBN’s board decision. It therefore means that in case there is a breach, the entire board would be held responsible and not the Governor alone.
Why then is Mr. Emefiele being haunted, one may ask? None of the investigations conducted so far has found Emefiele culpable, otherwise, the entire board members would be held accountable. It is on that ground that the public perceive Emefiele’s ordeal as politically motivated. Emefiele stepped on political toes and that is why he is being persecuted under the guise of forex transactions.
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Recall that in the wake of the 2023 presidential election, Emefiele ventured into politics to contest for president on the same APC platform as Bola Ahmed Tinubu (Jagaban).That move was suicidal and was seen as an affront to Tinubu, who had looked forward to the 2023 elections to clinch the presidency after he had unequivocally declared that it was his turn in the famous “Emi lokan” slogan. Who then was Emiefele, they thought, to stop Timubu’s moving train? And so, the election was conducted and Tinubu was declared winner by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
Emefiele’s ordeal started soon after President Tinubu assumed office on May 29, 2023. On June 10, 2023, Emefiele was picked from his Lagos home by the DSS and clamped into detention in Abuja for intensive grilling. During the incarceration, the judiciary appeared helpless as its orders for Emefiele’s release were flatly disobeyed.
The DSS had accused Emefiele of financing terrorism, which was out of this world. They visited all his property across Nigeria and ransacked everywhere apparently searching for weapons. At the end, they found what was described as a “toy gun” but found no evidence to prosecute him on the allegation of financing terrorism or gun-running. That notwithstanding, the DSS dragged Emefiele to court several times on trumped up charges which they could not prove.
After it failed to pin Emefiele down on any charge, the DSS handed Emefiele to the EFCC that rightly has the duty to investigate Emefiele. The EFCC cooked up all sorts of allegations bordering on financial malfeasance, including shoddy procurement deals. Like the DSS, the EFCC, after carrying out thorough investigation could not establish one evidence to prosecute Emefiele and so failed woefully.
Rather than end the brigandage going on in the name of investigating Emefiele, President Tinubu further went ahead to engage Mr Jim Obazee, the so-called special investigator, to re-probe Emefiele. The trust of Obazee’s investigation was his pronouncement that the CBN under Emefiele opened about one thousand accounts worldwide, that some N7.3 billion were traceable to Emefiele, that he had interest in some new banks, and that he forged President Buhari’s signature to withdraw $6.2m, among many other spurious allegations. After all said and done, the Obazee investigation evaporated into thin air as not one allegation was proven to warrant charge or prosecution of Emefiele.
Report about the hiring of Deloitte consulting is a height of indiscretion on the part of the Tinubu administration. It is inconceivable to think that there is any evidence that exists against Emefiele that the three Nigerian investigators – DSS, EFCC and Jim Obazee – could not find, which Deloitte would now find, unless there is a predetermined outcome to be used to nail Emefiele.
In a matter like this, the courts ought to stand in the gap for justice to prevail. But Nigeria’s pervasive corruption has destroyed the fabrics of the society, including that of the judiciary. It is crystal clear that no actionable charge has been found against Emefiele to warrant prosecution in court meaning that the continued hounding of Emefiele amounts to persecution, which tarnishes the image of the country.
Nigeria is bleeding and in pain and suffering. President Tinubu should help to sooth it. The President should allow justice to reign in the interest of the country. Nigeria needs redemption. President Tinubu should work to build a new Nigeria founded on equity, peace, justice and fairness rather than join in dragging it deeper into the mud. The rule of law should be allowed to take precedence.
- Dr Onyekakeyah, a public affairs analyst, wrote in from Owerri, Imo State