Throughout Nigeria’s history, there have been Central Bank Governors who have elevated that rarefied institution and maintained its hallowed status as the nation’s apex bank–with monetary policies as a core mandate.
And then there is Godwin Emefiele, the current CBN Governor, whose sole objective, it appears, is to sully the image of the CBN and desecrate the apex bank as we have come to know it.
I first heard of Emefiele’s intention to run for President from the grapevine, circa December 2021.
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As we now know, Emefiele registered as a member of the governing APC in Ward 6, in the Ika South Local Government Area of Delta State, in February of 2021.
A CBN Governor as a card carrying member of a political party? Can you really beat that?
The man has been setting out his stall for a presidential run even as a serving government appointee, believe it or not. There is no bigger conflict of interest.
In early April, one top ranking CBN employee told me that Emefiele has set up a department for his 2023 presidential campaign within the marbled walls of the CBN.
Other top sources within the CBN have also disclosed as much.
Early in the year, we learnt of “how a group of friends were persuading Emefiele to run for President.”
We also now know that Emefiele has been splurging on campaign buses, aircraft and SUVs while retaining his position as CBN Governor.
Last week, the world was told that an association of Rice Farmers, Friends of Emefiele and Emefiele Support Group, paid N100m for the APC presidential expression of interest and nomination forms for Emefiele.
As you would expect, Emefiele has denied that he was the one behind the purchase of the presidential form(s).
“I am humbled by the growing interest of those asking that I run for the Office of President in the 2023 general elections: I have not come to that decision. I note and salute the sacrifices of those farmers and patriots going as far as raising personal funds and offering me Presidential Nomination Forms: I thank them most profusely.
“However, should I answer their calls and decide to seek presidential nomination, I will use my own hard earned savings from over 35 years of banking leadership to buy my own Nomination Forms without proxies in an open and transparent manner, in full compliance with the laws and Constitution of The Federal Republic of Nigeria,” Emefiele says.
If it smells and feels like a fib, it most definitely is a fib. The man is apparently trying to be clever by half.
The relevant law enforcement agencies now have to investigate whether Emefiele has been deploying CBN resources for his failing presidential bid.
We also have to debate whether the nation’s farmers–whose lean resources would be best served investing in practices that would give them more yield–would be the ones who would pool these same scarce resources to prop the flailing presidential bid of a CBN Governor.
The CBN has been supervising a policy of government called the Anchor Borrowers Programme (ABP). Nigerians would love to know whether funds from this project have been funneled into Emefiele’s ill-fated presidential campaign through the years.
Of course there are moral, legal and ethical dimensions to Emefiele’s 2023 presidential bid.
Like other aspirants for the nation’s number one job, Emefiele is eminently qualified to run. But to run while still occupying the office of Governor of the CBN would be tantamount to dragging the CBN as an institution into the mud.
According to Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), Kunle Adegoke, “The governor of the central bank is expected to be impartial and not be driven by his own personal interests or the interests of a political party.
“Emefiele, as the governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, represents all Nigerians and in that capacity, he is obliged under the constitution to serve each person irrespective of their political party or affiliation.
“With that evident, it would be grossly irresponsible for anybody to be agitating for the CBN governor to join politics. The CBN governor is entitled as a citizen of Nigeria to contest for a political office, but where he desires to do so, he will have to resign his appointment and become a politician, strictly speaking.”
Similarly, Ebun-Olu Adegboruwa, SAN, says: “Under Section 1 of the CBN Act, the governor of the central bank ought to maintain the autonomy and independence of the financial institution in order not to subject itself to political manipulations.
“Under Section 6 of the CBN Act, the person occupying the position of the governor should not pursue any vocation that will result in a conflict of interest. Therefore, pursuing presidential ambition is in conflict with his position as the governor of CBN.”
It is embarrassing that we are discussing the partisan disposition of a CBN Governor at a time of ballooning inflation, flip-flopping monetary policies, devaluation of the nation’s currency and an astronomical exchange rate.
As you read this, Emefiele has run to court for a constitutional interpretation of his presidential ambition while retaining his position as CBN Governor. The CBN has never been this ridiculed.
He should be apolitical, but he is past caring at this point. It is also unlikely that he falls on his sword, as he drags the hallowed institution that is the CBN down with him into the abyss.
President Buhari must now save the CBN by sacking its political head, Emefiele, without further delay. It would be the right thing to do in the circumstances; and dithering could prove detrimental to the economy in the short and long run.
