In life, it is as easy to acquire fame as it is to become infamous.
By an incredulous act,one can descend from the the top to the bottom and go down as one who never existed in spite of whatever exploits he has made.
Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida is one such leader who descended very rapidly from the fame of a self -styled military President to the bottom of life because of one single error of judgement.. annulment of June 12,1993, Presidential election.
Today,Godwin Emefiele,one of the country’s longest serving Governor of Central Bank,CBN, could easily pass for the biggest thief ever caught having helped himself with the yet to be estimated nation’s money kept in his care.
It is doubtful whether the late military head of state Sanni Abacha, ever stole so much in spite of periodic discovery of his loot stashed away in Swiss banking faults.
In the issue of Emefiele,it is important to note that perhaps the reason for his light fingerdness has to do with the Yoruba pronouncement of his name.
Though,he is not Yoruba, yet in Yorubaland there is a saying that,the name you are called goes a long way in influencing your character, conduct and what you become in life.
For some, it also determines what you make or get out of life.
In Yoruba, the word Ole means thief though his own prefix is e yet,over the past two Years especially begining from when he introduced the strange Naira exchange project six months to the end of the government he served, the pronounciation of his name has changed to Ole meaning thief in the lips of Nigerians.
It gained a bigger notoriety when his alleged stealing exploits came into the open after his arrest and commencement of trial in Court by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission,EFCC.
He has also in the last eighteen months since the commencement of his trial,broke New records in abuse of Public position and trust just by virtue of his being the chief custodian of the Nigeria bankers bank.
That he has used his position as the one who prints and mints Our notes and coins is now an understatement.
Also that he inflicted untold sorrow, pain and anguish on his fellow citizens under the infamous naira redesign project is an understatement.
The families of the several souls that perished during the failed project definitely has curses rained on him and his generations yet unborn.
The apex banking institution claimed it has N27 trillion in circulation but it’s crooked Governor printed only N3 trillion making the hapless citizens writhe in pain to get their hard earned old Naira exchanged.
As the ordeal of Nigerians lasted,the commercial bank workers and Emefiele smiled to the banks!As the ordeal of Nigerians lasted, the commercial bank workers and Emefiele smiled to the banks! He was the king of thieves, the very Ali Baba of Nigeria’s 40 thieves. In the Arabian Nights’ tale of “Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves,” Ali Baba outsmarted the thieving thieves. Emefiele has done no less. He has not only outdone other thieves, he stole the CBN dry, so say EFCC and the courts!
Not until the Supreme Court judgement halted the pains and anguish of the nations citizens. Even Buhari, his boss was miffed by his employees claim of waiting for his instruction before complying with the court order.
However,since the incarceration and restrictions of his movement last year, it has been revelation upon revelations about his gross abuse of office and ungodly financial escapades during his nine year at the helm of the CBN.
So grievous was his alleged offences that Senate President Godswill Akpabio said the government is at a loss as to what charges to level against him. Indeed, it is not impossible that his former boss at the Zenith Bank from where he was recruited-Jim Ovia, must have been amazed by the level of financial heist commited by the man he once put in charge of affairs of his bank.
At the last count, Emefiele whose word was Law until his cup runneth over last year,has about 25 charges of financial infractions levelled against him.
By the nature of the charges preferred against him, nobody should have been disappointed by the lawlessness which has reigned in the nations banking system.
Since the head is rotten what can the other parts of the body do..I mean the commercial Banks who ‘raped’ poor and harmless depositors with their frivolous banking charges!
Also two weeks ago,one of the Federal High Courts in the country ordered final forfeiture of over $2.4 million traced to him and which he couldn’t account for.
This is beside the $6 million dollars he collected from World Bank to pay international observers during the election but diverted for his personal use.
Perhaps ,he does this in anger over his failure to become a Presidential candidate of one of the political parties,and ultimately becomes the President.
The biggest of all his crimes came out last week when a Federal High Court gave a final forfeiture of an estate which contained 753 duplexes in various stages of completion in one of the choice areas of Abuja,the nations capital.
What a Governor, what a fraud!
Could Emefiele be out to build a city within a city for himself by this outlandish project or that he merely wanted to outdo a public servant colleague,the former Accountant General of the Federation, Ahmed Idris who helped himself with N101 billion of money from the Ministry of education at a time University Teachers were on strike over unfulfilled agreement they had with the federal government on University funding.
Emefiele at the end of his trial-if it ever happens, could also easily surpassed a former Petroleum Minister, Dieziani Allison Madueke who has to her credit the disappearance of millions of dollars spent on purchasing properties in Lagos,Abuja and many banking faults and civilized capitals of the world.
A visibly enraged Justice Jude Onwigbuzie, had on Monday December 2,2024 gave a ruling on a final forfeiture of an estate in Abuja measuring 150,000 square meters containing 753 units of duplexes and other apartments.
“This is the single largest asset recovery by the EFCC since it’s inception in 2003.
The estate rests on Plot 109,Cadastral Zone C 09,Lokogoma District Abuja.
What a man! What a seizure!
Justice Onwigbuzie held that the respondent have not shown cause as to why he should not loose the property,” which has been reasonably suspected to have been acquired with the proceeds of unlawful activities,the property is here by finally forfeited to the Federal government.
Omoyele Sowore, an Activist declared,” I just heard from the grapevine that the duplexes forfeited by an FCT court in Apo belong to Muhammadu Buharis CBN Governor Emefiele.
That a sitting CBN Governor can own such an estate beside other disclosures since end of the last regime speaks volumes of the level of corrupt practices that took place under the watch of Buhari- a self acclaimed anti corruption military general.
This brings to question the need to have institutions that would prevent a single individual from amassing such wealth as recent other discoveries in other government agencies have revealed.
Powerful government institutions that would serve as whistle blower to ungodly movement of government money from its covers by corrupt public officers using their position to plunder the nation.
Today,the level of revelations in on going probes has justified the claim that Nigeria’s level of economic degradation is more of self inflicted practices than the reduction in its earnings.
A popular clergy man once remarked that the day he learnt that if corruption could be reduced by 40% and 30% of earnings by the country used for its development, Nigeria would be a paradise.
But,in spite of this it is important that until capital punishment and denial of access to proceeds of corrupt enrichment is effected,the fight against Corruption will have no impact and the monster will grow in leaps .
The last might not have been heard of Emefiele’s exploits as many of his likes may yet to be unveiled. Except we Kill corruption, corruption will eventually Kill Nigeria!
This is an issue that must be confronted head-long by any serious country desirous of development.
