Governor Bello Matawalle of Zamfara State has urged President Muhammadu Buhari not to allow Governor Godwin Emefiele of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to flee from the country on the pretext of going overseas to study.
Mr Matawalle stated this in a statement while reacting to social media reports indicating Mr Emefiele is planning on leaving the country before the tenure of the president expires May 29.
He said the apex bank governor was attempting to escape from rendering account on how he allegedly mismanaged the country’s financial and monetary systems under his leadership.
The governor queried why the CBN governor was embarking on studying abroad at the tail end of the Buhari administration despite his tenure expiring in ten months time.
“I want, here and now, to urge President Buhari to not approve any study leave or whatever kind of leave for any officer critical to the take-off of the incoming administration of Asíwájú Bola Ahmed Tinubu. One of such persons that has been speculated in the media to have sought a study leave is Central Bank of Nigeria Governor Godwin Emefiele,” the Zamfara helmsman said.
“If the leave has been approved, as reported in the media, the President should cancel it in the interest of peaceful transfer of power, accountability and good governance. CBN Governor Emefiele superintended over the management of the country’s financial and monetary systems. He is the one who initiated and implemented the recent disastrous Naira swap policy, the Naira confiscation program, which put Nigerians through untold woes and trauma and set our economy backwards.
“Two of my brother-governors and I took the Federal Government to court over this ill-advised policy and fought resolutely until we got a respite for our people from Emefiele and company.
“This same Emefiele now wants to proceed on study leave when he has some 10 months left of his tenure apparently in a bid to evade rendering accounts. This is unacceptable. President Buhari should not countenance this. Emefiele must stay at his job to give full accounts of all that transpired under his watch to the incoming administration. He must answer all the questions the new regime may have for him particularly when he still has some months left of his tenure.”
The governor said, aside Emefiele who implemented the new Naira policy approved by his principal, other top government officials were also plotting to leave the country before the expiration of the President’s tenure, an act he described was suspicious.
“I’m aware that some officers in the outgoing government are moving to surreptitiously leave the country at this critical time they are needed to answer to specific questions, though I would not want mention their names here,” Mr Matawalle stated.
“These plans are dangerous and devilish. They show clearly that these officers have something to hide. This must be halted immediately. Any plan to evade rendering accounts is neither in the interest of accountability, transparency and anti-corruption, which President Buhari had championed in government, nor in the interest of an unencumbered take-off of the incoming administration.
“It’s also not in the interest of the country, which the president has always promoted and championed. This is my appeal and why I have decided to speak out as a patriotic Nigerian and concerned governor,” he said.
