By Sunday Ani
The people of Agbor in Delta State, the home state of the embattled former Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Godwin Emefiele, under the aegis of Agbor Stakeholders Forum, has expressed displeasure in what they called the relentless hounding and persecution of their brother and mentor, Emefiele, who has been in detention since May 10, following his arrest by officials of the Department of State Service (DSS).
The group has, therefore, appealed to President Bola Tinubu to allow the former central bank boss to return home with some honour and dignity to take his well deserved rest, alongside other appointees who served under former President Muhammadu Buhari, who have returned to their homesteads unmolested.
A statement signed by Kachukwu Kanene for the Forum lamented that Emefiele, who has been the governor of the CBN for nine years, is currently being sequestered and shackled like a common criminal by the country that he has served so diligently over the years.
The Forum also condemned Emefiele’s continued detention in the DSS custody, and lately in the custody of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC); a development the group attributed to serial and flagrant disobedience to court orders by the DSS.
Members of the Forum also alleged that judging by the ferocity with which Emefiele is being pursued, they were convinced that someone wanted him dead.
Part of the statement read: “What is Emefiele’s offence? Recall that in February, the DSS had told the world that its preliminary investigations revealed that Emefiele committed various acts of terrorism financing and involvement in economic crimes of national security dimension. But, to our surprise, when Emefiele was finally arraigned at the Federal High Court Ikoyi, Lagos, after six weeks of further investigations, all they could charge him for was illegal possession of one single-barrel shotgun and ammunition. No mention was made of economic crimes or terrorism financing.
“It is remarkable that though Emefiele was hurriedly removed from his Ikoyi residence on June 10, a shotgun was to be found in the same house on June 15, while he was being held in Abuja. This is a pointer to the fact that the evidence against Emefiele was only being dredged up after he was arrested. Now, the only charge the DSS preferred against Emefiele was possession of a shotgun and a few rounds of ammunition.
“But most troubling is that our brother was, again, bodily prised from the custody of the Nigerian Correctional Service (NCS) by officials of the DSS in flagrant contempt of the Lagos court that had granted him bail and specifically ordered that he be remanded at the Ikoyi Correctional Centre. But, to the shock of Nigerians, the DSS had secured an anticipatory order from another court to counter the orders of the court they were arraigning him in. The question is, what is the special interest in our brother?
“It is noteworthy that nearly half a dozen courts in Nigeria had ruled in favour of outright release of Emefiele or that he be granted bail. But all the orders were shunned by the DSS.”
The Forum also alleged that Emefiele is being punished for carrying out his legitimate duties as the CBN governor. “Emefiele’s traducers are willing to break any law of the land and deny him any basic freedom and rights, in order to punish him for carrying out his statutory duties during his time as governor of CBN. There’s no doubt that Emefiele’s unjust detention, emotional torture and rubbishing of his image has to do with President Buhari’s naira redesign policy of last year.
“Recall that the APC-led federal government had moved to change the face of Nigeria’s currency in the run up to the 2023 elections. The reasons stated were to reduce inflation and shore up the currency’s value by calling in huge cash stockpiles in the hands of politicians. President Buhari had stated openly that he desired a free and fair election that was not mired by vote buying.
“This policy, which was obviously initiated by former President Buhari, didn’t go down well with many APC candidates and politicians, who saw it as a ploy by the presidency to hamper their electoral chances. The policy seemed to be designed to starve them vote-buying cash. They had dragged the CBN and the president to court then.
“Today, Emefiele is being punished for taking directives from his boss, the former president in the course of a routine, legitimate, government business,” the statement added.
However, the Forum is appealing to President Tinubu to be magnanimous in victory, since the elections are over, and allow Emefiele to return home with some honour and dignity.
“He should be allowed to take his well deserved rest along with other former President Buhari’s appointees, who have returned to their homesteads unmolested. We make bold to say that, but for the ugly political turn of events in the APC, Emefiele was serving out his term as a hero of the Buhari era,” the forum stated.