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Emefiele led “rotten financial system” under Buhari; few thieves freely looted: Tinubu

Bayo Onanuga, in a tweet on Saturday, claimed Mr Tinubu made the assertion in Paris.

• June 24, 2023
Bola Tinubu
Bola Tinubu [Credit; Peoples Gazette]

President Bola Tinubu says sacked former Central Bank Governor Godwin Emefiele oversaw a rotten financial system under former president Muhammadu Buhari, where a few persons made “bags of money.”

Bayo Onanuga, in a tweet on Saturday, claimed Mr Tinubu made the assertion in Paris, where the latter attended a two-day economic summit hosted by the French government.

Mr Onanuga, who was the spokesman for the APC presidential campaign, quoted Mr Tinubu as saying of the ousted Central Bank chief: 

“The financial system was rotten. Few people making bags of our money and then you yourself, you stopped sending money home to our poor parents. Several windows. But that is gone now, is gone.

“The man [Emefiele] is in the hands of authorities, something is being done about that, they will sort themselves out.”

Mr Tinubu’s statement comes a few days after Laolu Akande, media aide to former vice President Yemi Osinbajo, lampooned Mr Emefiele championing the reckless looting of Nigeria’s resources through dual exchange rate.

“His shenanigans the colossal damages he perpetrated at the CBN was to the utter detriment of the Nigerian people. This is not even about cashless policy, but apparent corruption especially in the dual exchange rate policy which never made sense. What a sigh of relief,” Mr Akande said shortly after Mr Emefiele was arrested by the secret police, SSS.

Mr Tinubu suspended Mr Emefiele, ordering investigations into his leadership of the apex bank on June 9.

Mr Emefiele, 61, assumed office on June 4, 2014, following the controversial dismissal of his predecessor Lamido Sanusi by former President Goodluck Jonathan. 

He was confirmed for a second term of five years by former President Muhammadu Buhari in June 2019, which will expire by June 2024.

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