IGBOZURUOKE MEDIA

It is deep and vested interests rather than love of country are at the bottom of the cowardly siege on the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, David Emefiele.  

Bennett Oghifo

Geoffrey Chaucer says in ‘Wife of Bath’ one of his Canterbury Tales that the utmost wish of a woman is to control the man; add to that, the wish of everybody is to control everybody and everything. But first, they must have tons of money or have easy access to it. This is the reason a few bad people do all that is necessary to be filthily rich at the expense of man and country.
“In this country, you gotta make the money first. Then when you get the money, you get the power,” Tony Montana says in the movie, Scarface.

This was the same reason autocratic governments became rife in Africa where powerful interests ensured that they were always in charge and in control of all things and of all situations and, particularly of the nation’s till. To achieve the stronghold on man and society always, these African despots execute devious plots, staging military coups and counter-coups.

They still have deceitful plots against the government and the society if things run counter to their wishes.
Recent revelations of onslaught on the nation’s treasure show an age-old systemic and graded distribution pattern and, as it is in organised crime, which this situation looks like, territories have been carved out or annexed by interest groups. Some people believe it is an institutionalised graft system that is not expected to change.

Thus, some people do not like the policy of the Emefiele-led CBN on the allocation of Forex, because they believe they alone should determine how the nation’s foreign exchange should be used and who should trade with it. To them, it is the tradition and, nobody is expected to challenge the norm.
This is the reason the robust endorsement of Emefiele by Governor of Edo State; Adams Oshiomhole may have stopped those calling for Emefiele’s sack in their tracks.
Oshiomhole’s unexpected intervention and his characterisation of those calling for Emefiele’s head has thrown spanner in the works of what appears to be a well oiled campaign by some desperate interests groups fronting for some equally desperate VIPs who have continued to fleece the system for their private benefit.

The faceless economic saboteurs have laid siege on Emefiele for some time now all on the pretentious grounds that the economy is in shambles because of him. How can that be?
Oshiomhole pointedly told them that no one is fooled by their campaign and that the new federal government won election on the basis of a mantra of change and that the government was bent on doing something about “all kinds of people who have made money from the nation’s economy without contributing anything.”

Since President Buhari was sworn in, there has been a silent campaign for the ouster of the CBN governor on social media, in print and on electronic media. Petitions, containing all sorts of spurious allegations have been tendered in their desperation to ensure the president removes him. But they forget that the CBN is an autonomous institution that reflects the monetary stability of the nation.

Oshiomhole reminded the campaigners that the hiring and firing of the CBN governor is not a political decision because institutions such as the central bank are central to economic growth and development of any serious nation.

Those who will benefit from the sack of Emefiele are merely invisible hands who, for so long, have continued to thwart the nation’s economic resources for their selfish interest.
Those behind this campaign, according to checks, are not doing so for the love of the great country but to further their vested interest that is not only parochial but also ethnic-based.
Added to this is a powerful interest group that has been denied access to FOREX.
Besides, as Oshiomole said, “If a governor is doing fine, his hiring and firing is not a matter that should be discussed by faceless Facebook manipulators, and by the time you unmask the people behind it, you will discover that they are palm wine drinkers.”

According to the governor, the government already had its hands full, trying to grapple with the challenge of running an economy undergoing recession with limited inflow of foreign exchange, and that it was counterproductive to engage in a needless adventure that would trigger a process that would lead to endless devaluation that, ultimately, would reduce the Nigerian precious Naira to Zimbabwean dollar.
He insists that “President Buhari is not going to be fooled by people who want to have a regime where government is just an onlooker and allow the naira to become worthless and people are making money from speculation. So those guys are wasting their time.”
The CBN governor was right in insisting on the 41 items that had been denied access to forex from the interbank forex market, he reasoned, adding that “people who have been feeding fat on our common patrimony, manipulating the exchange rate and moving money across boundaries are the speculators spreading the campaign for his sack.”

The government’s slogan of change is not a senseless punch-line but a serious resolve to redirect the minds and actions of all to the common good.
“We have a new federal government that has won election on the basis of change and there are all kinds of people who have made a lot of money from the economy without contributing anything by just playing on exchange rates and commercial papers.
“It is these speculators, because the CBN governor has been saying we cannot open the doors to all kinds of imports such as toothpicks, tomato paste and all sorts of things who have been feeding fat on our common patrimony, manipulating the exchange rate, moving money across borders, and taking advantage of electronic money transfers, that are behind these campaigns,” he said.

He said on another level were “some opportunistic elements, people who feel that if this man goes, I will get there and they are ready to go to any length to remove him.
“I think this government is making a point that the hiring and firing of CBN governors need not be a political decision, because we should respect institutions; the hiring and firing is not a decision by Facebook manipulators, and by the time you unmask the people behind it, you will discover that they are palm wine drinkers.
“I think the CBN governor is right, he is standing his grounds and those who are opposed to him are free to speak, but I know that President Buhari is not going to be fooled by people who want to see a regime where government is just an onlooker and allows our naira to become worthless and for people to make money from speculation, so those guys are wasting their time.”
Also, the executive committees of a coalition of civil society groups rose in defence of Emefiele and condemned the threat of a protest by “a shadowy, bogus and unscrupulous group parading itself as a civil society organisation”.

The civil society groups stated that the central bank governor was being persecuted for the policies on the implementation of the Bank Verification Number (BVN), restriction on foreign exchange allocation, reform of the bureau de change sub-sector, and refusal by the central bank to devalue the naira.
The groups also stated that the “phony” group threatening to hold a protest against Emefiele was not a civil society organisation and was therefore not recognised by the coalition of civil society groups in Nigeria.

In a statement yesterday, the coalition insisted that regardless of how this phony group tries to mask itself as a civil society organisation, an independent investigation had revealed that it was in fact a political organisation of paid agents and sponsored groups representing the interest of a certain geopolitical zone in the country.
The coalition revealed that the promoters of this group are persons who are known to be troublesome and have the capacity to disrupt the public peace.
The groups said they fully appreciate the difficulties and anxieties of many Nigerians given the present tough economic environment, but maintained that the situation was not caused by one man or one institution and considered it unfair for anyone or group to try to put the blame on only one person or organisation.

According to the coalition, relative to its peers, the Nigerian economy was not performing that badly.
“Among commodity-exporting economies, for instance, inflation, GDP growth and employment are far worse in countries like Zambia, Ghana, and Argentina with inflation rates of between 19-28 per cent. As a matter of fact, Brazil and Russia are in recession, while South Africa is struggling to record positive growth.
“These are all linked to the fall in commodity prices in the international market. Emefiele and the CBN have so far managed to keep inflation far below what has been recorded in many comparator countries,” the coalition said.

It insisted that the policies of the Emefiele-led CBN are aimed at protecting ordinary Nigerians from the destructive capitalistic instincts of a few speculators.
“Emefiele’s policies have truncated the rent-seeking ability of many of these economic parasites and saboteurs. And we believe it is for this singular reason that both Emefiele and the CBN are being vilified in the most unfair and disgraceful manner by a sponsored group of anarchists.

“Nigerians have been taken for a ride for too long. Our collective patrimony has been cornered by a few looters for too long. We can no longer stand idly by and watch these thieves, in collaboration with foreign neo-colonialists and imperialists, keep the masses of our people under perpetual bondage. This is the time to free Nigeria and its people from the dirty hands and greedy mouths of a few,” the civil society groups added.
They stated that Emefiele’s detractors are aggrieved by his implementation of the BVN, which ensures that those who have looted the country’s resources and concealed them under various account names are detected.
“Given their inability to hide their identities these thieves have vowed to hound Emefiele for daring to destroy their criminal activities. May God never allow them to succeed,” the groups said.

Courtesy: Thisday newspaper