By Abiola Olawale
President of the Senate, Senator Godswill Akpabio has again dropped a massive bombshell, accusing the embattled former Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Mr Godwin Emefiele of allegedly leaving the economy of Nigeria in a wobbling situation.
This is as the current number one lawmaker of the red chamber alleged that Emefiele left several holes in the national treasury during his tenure as the CBN Governor.
Akpabio further urged Nigerians to be patient with President Tinubu, adding that the president is trying his best to fix the bad state of the economy he inherited.
Akpabio maintained that Tinubu inherited a battered economy which he is currently trying to rally cash and deploy his ingenious know-how to salvage and navigate away from the stranglehold of sleaze and corruption to stay afloat.
The Senate President made this known at Ikot Ekpene Stadium over the weekend when his kinsmen from Akwa Ibom North-West Senatorial District hosted him and his National Assembly colleagues to a reception.
He recalled that his earlier remarks on Emefiele being the major culprit responsible for the failure of the economy had drawn the ire of the ex–CBN boss, who had in turn dragged the Senate President to Court.
It would be recalled that Emefiele had slammed a lawsuit against Akpabio, demanding N25 billion compensation and a public apology. The lawsuit came after Akpabio, while speaking in Port Harcourt, Rivers state, in February had accused Emefiele of implementing policies that led to the current economic hardship being experienced by millions of Nigerians.
Akpabio had said: “We don’t know what crime to charge Emefiele with. So the kind of debt and the kind of economic mess that we are in, a lot of people do not understand, I remember President Obama saying you cannot know Washington until you get to Washington. So by the time we went in to look at the economic state of the country, it was terrible, so the Former Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria we didn’t even know what to charge him, whether to charge him for putting foam on the … or to charge him for illegal possession of firearms or to charge him for printing notes without income, I don’t know what we are going to charge him with. But, what I know is that, yes there is hunger today because of the policies that they took,” Akpabio said.
However, speaking at the event, Akpabio maintained that; “I still stand by my position,” despite the Court case.
Expressing optimism and confidence in the economy bouncing back stronger, Akpabio assured that Tinubu has the required expertise to retool the economy back on the trajectory of growth.
He stressed that with three former governors, Tinubu, a former Governor of Lagos State, as President; Kashim Shettima, former Borno State Governor as Vice President, and himself, a former Akwa Ibom State governor, their knowledge and ingenuity in politics and socio-economic governance would be aggregated and galvanized to rescue the country for the greater good of Nigerians.
Akpabio also assured the people of the State, the South-South region, and the country of all-round federal presence, assuring that the coastal road coming from Lagos to Calabar would cut across various states in the Southwest, Southeast, and South-South political zones, with attendant socio-economic developments.
The Senate President also assured the host governor, Pastor Umo Eno of the Deep Seaport, and other federal government projects, and urged him to liaise with the Managing Director of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), Samuel Ogbuku, to extend the ongoing road project from the neighboring Abia State to Ini, Ikono, Ikot Ekpene to connect Uyo, the state capital.
“You have asked for Seaport, you will not only get Seaport, you will get roads, flyovers, and other federal projects, and we are going to do this because of you,” he stressed but impressed the governor to live above board as a Pastor, to which the governor agreed.
The New Diplomat reports Emefiele has been facing stormy waters and is being tried for alleged abuse of office and fraud to the tune of $4.5bn and N2.8bn.
EFCC slammed a fresh 26-count charge against Emefiele and one of his allies, Omole.
The charge, marked ID/23787c/2024, dated April 3, 2024, was filed by Mr Rotimi Oyedepo (SAN).
EFCC alleged that Emefiele committed abuse of office between 2022 and 2023, in Lagos, of abuse of office.
Emefiele is facing trial on counts bordering on accepting gratification, accepting gifts through agents, corruption, receipt of property fraudulently obtained, and conferring corrupt advantage on his associates contrary to the Corrupt Practices Act of 2000.
The commission alleged that Emefiele “directed to be done in abuse of the authority of your office, as the Governor, Central Bank of Nigeria, an arbitrary act, to wit: allocating foreign exchange in the aggregate sum of $2,136,391,737.33 without bids, which act is prejudicial to the rights of Nigerians.”
Since the commencement of the trial, several witnesses have recounted how Emefiele allegedly laundered huge sums of money.
