Article Summary
- Governor Matawalle asked President Buhari not to approve study leave for CBN Governor, Godwin Emefiele, noting that he must account for his tenure to the incoming administration.
- He said that despite efforts by President Buhari and his wife to ensure a seamless transition and handover, some government officials are acting differently and sabotaging those efforts.
- He also appealed to the president not to approve foreign postings or grant any foreign travels for any officer in the outgoing government who may be critical to the smooth take-off of the incoming government.
The Governor of Zamfara State, Bello Matawalle, has urged President Muhammadu Buhari not to approve any study leave or foreign trip for the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Governor, Godwin Emefiele, or any other government official critical to the take-off of the incoming administration.
This might not be unconnected to speculations suggesting that President Buhari has approved the request of the CBN governor to proceed on study leave.
This disclosure is contained in a press statement issued by Governor Matawalle on Monday, May 15, 2023, where he asked the president to cancel such leave if it has been approved as speculated in the media in the interest of peaceful transfer of power, accountability and good governance.
Matawalle hailed the President and his wife for making efforts to ensure a seamless transition and handover to the president-elect, Bola Tinubu, but lamented that some other officers in government are acting differently and seeking to damage the good job he has done.
Accuses government officials of efforts to sabotage incoming administration
The statement from Matawalle partly reads,
- ‘’President Buhari and his wife Aisha Buhari have shown good faith and shown they want a seamless orderly and peaceful transfer of power to the incoming administration. They are eager to ensure that the new regime takes off smoothly and speedily and in a manner devoid of any encumbrance in the interest of our country.
- ‘’This is the right thing to do and I commend President Buhari and his wife for their statesmanly conduct. The President and his wife have demonstrated good faith. However, other officers in government have acted in a different manner. They are behaving as if they want to put spanners in the work for the incoming regime.
- ‘’President Buhari should not allow this. He should frown on any attempt by any person seeking to damage the good job he has done. This is the import of this press statement today. 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. 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.’’
Emefiele must be held accountable
The Zamfara State Governor said that the CBN governor who is in charge of the country’s financial and monetary systems must be made to give an account of his tenure to the incoming administration.
- He said, ‘’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 backward. 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.’’
No foreign postings or travels
- Matawalle added, ‘’I also want to use this opportunity to appeal to President Buhari to also not approve foreign postings or grant any foreign travels for any officer at any level in the outgoing government who may be critical or strategic to the smooth take-off of the incoming government. 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 to mention their names here.
- ‘’President Buhari should not heed their inordinate and unpatriotic plan. 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.’’
