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This week is a difficult one for me. The difficulty is in choosing what to write on. Is it on Senator Bulkachuwa’s confession on how he serially manipulate his wife (a retired president of court of appeal) to manipulate justice in favour of his political colleagues? All attempts by the outgoing Senate President (Ahmad Lawan) to off the mic during Bulkachuwa’s confession—to put the embarrassment on hold—were futile. Or to write on students Loan Bill passed into law which I think is more dangerous than danger and more poisonous than poison? Or to write on the vengeful demolition going on in Kano State which would have landed a dirty slap on the cheek of former Governor Kwankwaso by his erstwhile political son (former Governor Ganduje) while in the same building in Abuja? Ganduje slapped Kwankwaso verbally anyway. This is sad!
Or I should just write on the former Governor of Zamfara State, Mutawalle whose wives’ rooms were broken, hijabs, kayan lefe (wedding clothing), and cooking stoves were carted away in search of government vehicles. How his wives cook for him now is what I don’t know. I even thought of writing on how to engage my students in a two-hundred-hour marathon lecture to push my name (by fire by force) into the Guinness World Record. My wife told me a lecturer in Federal University Oye-Ekiti (FUOYE) is set to lecture for 150 hours to break record. I think she is prodding me to contest!
Should my article focus on the suspension of the EFCC Chairman, Abdulrasheed Bawa? Another thought cropped up: “Why not write on Buhari’s ‘Slave’ who climbed the tree beyond the leaves? I finally settled for the suspended Emefiele. I picked the title of this article from some paragraphs of the column of the cerebral and award winning Nigerian Tribune columnist, Lasisi Olagunju. His was titled “The road Emefiele took.”
As we all know, wielders of power do also know, that power is transient. We need no admonition. But because power is tantalizingly intoxicating, they tend to realize the transience of power only when it slips off from their hands. Last last, Emefiele is gone. The former Governor of Central Bank, Godwin Emefiele, is a governor without a state but wields enormous power only next to the President. I don’t know of any “slave” who has been loyal to his master like Emefiele. To reciprocate, his master (Buhari) loved him so much that, though a “slave”, he became a sacred cow. No one dares Emefiele. Gudaji Kazaure dared him, the Department of State Service (DSS) dared him, and even Nigerians dared him but were all disappointed.
I don’t know how Emefiele bewitched Buhari and I don’t know how Buhari bewitched Emefiele. Perhaps Dr. Rueben Abati who has full knowledge, and has gained expertise, of the spiritual side of Aso Villa should know. All I know is that Buhari is too nepotistic to allow such enormous power to be wielded by someone who is not from his ethnic group, not from his state, and not from his religion. Emefiele picked APC presidential ticket as a serving governor of Central Bank against all odds, against all acts, and against all statutes. Even when Emefiele could not make it to the APC primaries, I believed he will be the next president of Nigeria. When the presidential contest was narrowed to three major contestants: BAT, Atiku, and Obi, I still believed Emefiele will be the next president. For the power he wields, I don’t think he needs to contest to be Nigerian President provided it is Buhari that will hand over power.
Joke apart, in February 17, 2023, in an article titled “Why Godwin Emefiele could be the Next President”, I wrote: “Do not be shocked if Emefiele becomes next president without contesting”. For he has become a sacred cow under Buhari, and with the help of some judges like in Bulkachuwa’s confession above, I believed, then, that anything can happen. I ceased to be a doubting Thomas only when Buhari handed over power to BAT. Since then, I perceived the fall of the villain of naira repainting policy which impoverished many Nigerians and killed thousands of businesses. While his master (Buhari) plans to resettle himself—if comes the worst—in Niger Republic after destroying Nigeria, I have no iota of Emefiele’s plan until he was suspended and now in the DSS net. Let’s wait to confirm the authenticity of the claim that Emefiele releases N500 Billion monthly on the instruction of President Buhari to Madam Sadiya who dastardly managed her Disaster Ministry. If that is true, no one will doubt the master-slave relationship between Buhari and Emefiele.
Many readers of this column must have listened to the viral video of Dr. Abdulhakeem Abdullateef, the Chairman of Nigeria Deposit Insurance Corporation (NDIC). The video’s caption is “Even If You Will Kill Me, I Will Tell Nigerians My Mind.” He will not be killed, God willing. When Buhari first appointed him, he wrote what looks like an acceptance speech which portrays him as a God-fearing Muslim. Of course, he is a sheikh (religious scholar and preacher). I have known him for almost two decades as a righteous man; though God knows best who is righteous. But righteousness, with the wisdom of hindsight, is of no use in Buhari regime. Once you join it, you carry the batch of corruption. Many joined Buhari regime as righteous people but in the twinkling of an eye, started behaving and misbehaving disappointedly and horribly. I do not need to cite examples. The list is long.
The NDIC Chairman does not want to be congratulated until he leaves the organization better than he met it. This is exactly my notion of success. Not the noise people make. May God grant us and him success. In the outburst of the NDIC Chairman, Emefiele remains the biggest elephant—enabler of corruption. Those allegations must be investigated. His assertion that former President Buhari signed a wrong bill (the NDIC Act, 2023) which is corruption-enabling only confirms our assertion that Buhari only gives directive, trusts subordinates, globetrots, toothpicks, and hardly reads. He hardly scrutinizes, he hardly governs, and hence, Nigerian continues to dance on the brink under his nose. Those who are not comfortable with some of our analyses of mis-governance under Buhari can now see clearly. To say Buhari regime is the worst is an understatement; it is the most disastrous and the most calamitous with no tinge of success. For the little success in terms of infrastructure which some people mentioned—and continue to mention—is debatable.
When all is said and done, will President Tinubu take Dr Abdullateef, the NDIC Chairman, seriously? We should hope so. Those allegations should not go the way of Gudaji Kazaure’s. Though I think there are exaggerations in Kazaure’s allegations against Emefiele, however, only thorough investigation could reveal the facts. Emefiele has indeed climbed the tree beyond the leaves. The ugly consequences of his stewardship of the Nigeria’s apex bank can only be imagined. And as the saying goes: “It takes two to tango”. Many must have worked hand in glove to aid and abet Emefiele’s unruliness. Former President Buhari might need to answer some questions from his hideout in the Niger Republic if he had relocated.
Emefiele wasn’t the first governor to suffer suspension. Before him was Sanusi; but Sanusi was rewarded with emirship and his suspension was not celebrated by the masses. Emefiele’s suspension/arrest was (and is still being) celebrated by Nigerians. As he is about to “kiss the canvass,” to borrow from Olagunju’s conclusion, “I do not envy who comes next”. May we never be Emefielized again in our lifetime.
Abdulkadir Salaudeen
salahuddeenabdulkadir@gmail.com
[…] govern the Central Bank of Nigeria but misgoverned it. In a lengthy reaction to my article titled “Governor Emefiele: Buhari’s “Slave” Who Climbed the Tree Beyond the Leaves” some months ago, one Chief (name withheld), an Igbo man wrote from Lagos State: “Reading your […]
[…] govern the Central Bank of Nigeria but misgoverned it. In a lengthy reaction to my article titled “Governor Emefiele: Buhari’s “Slave” Who Climbed the Tree Beyond the Leaves” some months ago, one Chief (name withheld), an Igbo man wrote from Lagos State: “Reading your […]