Naira Redesign: Tinubu Shouldn’t Make Suspended CBN Boss Emefiele Scapegoat, Says Tunde Bakare

Senior pastor of Citadel Global Christian Centre Tunde Bakare has urged President Bola Tinubu not to use suspended Central Bank of Nigeria governor Godwin Emefiele as a scapegoat for his involvement in the nation’s divisive currency design policy.
The policy, according to Mr. Tinubu, was created to thwart his bid for the presidency. One of Mr. Tinubu’s first acts as president after taking office was to suspend the troubled CBN chief. Since then, Mr. Emefiele has been detained by the SSS despite a court order giving him bail.

Bakare To Buhari: God Has Turned Against You

The preacher and politician said in a sermon on Sunday, “Mr Godwin Emefiele may have made poor decisions in the administration of Nigeria’s monetary policy, but he must not be made a scapegoat.”

Citing the CBN Act 2007, Mr Bakare said, “There is every possibility that the erstwhile central bank governor did not act without presidential authorisation.”
He added, “However, considering the dynamics of the pre-election environment and the then-candidate Bola Tinubu’s public allegation that the naira redesign policy was targeted at him, the optics of the president targeting Emefiele for prosecution after winning the election and being sworn in as the president could be interpreted as a form of vendetta far beneath such a distinguished office.”

In the build-up to the February 25 presidential poll, Mr Tinubu in Ogun accused then-President Muhammadu Buhari’s regime of using the raging fuel scarcity and naira redesign and cash handling policies of the CBN to blunt his chances at the February polls.
Now president, Mr Tinubu said the ousted CBN governor oversaw a “rotten financial system” in which a few persons made “bags of money.”

The suspended CBN chief is being tried for illegally possessing firearms and ammunition.

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