EMEFIELE AND THE DEMOCRATIC NIGHTMARE

 Steve Osuji argues that Godwin Emefiele should be accorded his fundamental human rights

DEFINING TINUBU: It used to be said that losers gripe, while winners make jokes. Not anymore, it seems. At least not in the case of President Bola Tinubu. Since he was sworn in as the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, May 29 ,  2023, there has been no humour around here. Could it be that our president is not given to mirth? From abruptly yanking the nipples of so-called fuel subsidy from the mouth of the people to throwing our currency,  poor naira,  into the dragon’s-den of foreign monies, President Tinubu has not shared a joke with Nigerians at all.

But the matter that seems to be defining the character and persona of our president is his tango with a certain poor fellow called Godwin Emefiele.  This man was managing director and CEO of one of the biggest banks in Nigeria before federal government poached him for the top job of governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, (CBN). Since 2015, Emefiele held sway at the helm of our apex bank, doing exploits in finance and economy. He was hailed by his boss, former President Muhammadu Buhari who met him on the chair and left him there through two terms of eight years. Buhari even renewed Emefiele’s term, giving him another five years when he won a second term as president in 2019.

Emefiele was loved by Buhari who made him one of the leading lights of Nigeria’s economy throughout his tenure. Emefiele directed not only the monetary policies of the time, he also helped shape the economy through CBN’s robust intervention in the fiscal space. He was hailed by the APC government to have revolutionised agriculture, especially rice production. Recall that then Information Minister,  Lai Mohammed once told Nigerians that the country was producing surplus rice but the only setback being that government forgot to include sack production in the rice value chain. Lai assured that the small problem of bagging of our bounteous harvest was receiving prompt attention. He said with a bit of chest pounding that Nigeria was ready to move from a net importer of rice to a net exporter. Images of the Abuja rice pyramid which sprung up overnight are still on the digital space. Such was the Emefiele effect in the APC-Buhari era.

This Pharaoh knows not emefiele: Now APC has another Pharaoh on the throne who knows not Godwin (Joseph) Emefiele. The star boy of the Buhari era has suddenly become a villain of the Tinubu presidency. President Tinubu must be so spiteful of Emefiele that he kicked him off his high perch just a few days after taking office. The day after Emefiele’s suspension (June 10th), he was picked up from his Lagos residence in the manner of a petty criminal and hauled over to Abuja. Emefiele hasn’t seen his comfortable home since then. There’s no prize for guessing that Emefiele has been detained on strict orders of the president since then, going to 70 days and nights. Apart from the fuel subsidy matter and sabre rattling over Republic of Niger, the Emefiele affair best defines the Tinubu presidency so far.

Why Tinubu is not laughing with Emefiele: This great banker, Emefiele is not a dandy fellow therefore he couldn’t be accused of chasing President Tinubu’s delectable wife, Remi, whereupon such presidential wrath would have been provoked. Emefiele committed the cardinal offence of almost costing Tinubu the presidential diadem.

The story is told of how at the nick of the presidential poll,  Emefiele was said to have conspired with incumbent President Buhari to introduce a currency redesign policy which stymied the ability of political parties and  candidates to deploy their warehouses of cash for the purposes of vote buying. Political pundits have opined that that singular masterstroke by Emefiele and his former boss had wrathed Tinubu exceedingly as it almost cost him the trophy. For instance, an election that ought to have been won by an landslide margin is now a matter of hair-splitting conjecturing in the courts. As it stands,  nobody knows who would occupy the Presidential Villa tomorrow as the world awaits the verdict of the Presidential Appeal Tribunal. This, it seems, is the crux of the matter. This is why Emefiele has had no wink of sleep since Tinubu ascended the presidency. Not even the suggestion that Emefiele was acting under a presidential order and directive cut any ice with the incumbent.

Setting the house on fire to kill a rat: As has been noted above, the unforgiving nature and seeming inordinate witch-hunt of Emefiele may be causing more harm to the president and his presidency. Today, Tinubu is being presented as an unforgiving and vindictive persona. Never has a CBN governor been so dragged in the mud since the beginning or Nigeria’s history. Besides, Emefiele is certainly not the worst of the Buhari lieutenants. Why is nobody else being pursued and probed?

To make matters worse, no serious evidence of malfeasance or abuse was proffered against him ab initio. Instead, Emefiele has been accused of several offences including terrorism financing, unlawful possession of firearms and now, procurement malpractice.

Our institutions on trial: Apart from President Tinubu’s seeming self-smear, two major national institutions – DSS and the judiciary -have put themselves on trial over the Emefiele matter.

 This blind pursuit of Emefiele has left them sullied and messy. Since June 10th that the DSS practically abducted Emefiele from his home, they still don’t have a cogent reason to give the world why they have detained him for so long or why they have blatantly defied the courts of the land that have serially order his bail and release.

At the last appearance in court mid-week, all previous charges were dropped and a financial crime has been thrown up. Pray, what’s an intelligence agency doing meddling with a financial crime in direct usurpation of the duties of an established financial crimes commission (EFCC)?

Why has the judiciary lent itself to such unprecedented debasement in the hands of the presidency in particular? Over half a dozen court orders have been flouted or ignored by the DSS under the watch of the presidency. What about Emefiele’s human rights? Or has Nigeria seized to be a democracy?

 A man who doesn’t respect the courts has no business going to the court. As it is said, he who goes to equity must not only go with clean hands but with humility and submission to the rules and rulings therefrom.

  In summary, as we seek to rid the house of a disgusting rodent let us remember not to burn down the edifice. As Tinubu pursues a seeming vendetta against Emefiele, let him beware that the judiciary and the DSS are not undermined and damaged.

 Osuji, a retired journalist and poet, writes from Owerri, Imo State