Igbo think-tank organisation, the Alaigbo Development Foundation (ADF), has called on President Bola Tinubu to immediately commence a holistic probe of the administration of his predecessor, President Muhammadu Buhari.
The ADF’s call is a reaction to the recent mass purge of senior staff of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) which the organisation described as “a series of policy steps tailored to complete the total annexation of all major economic institutions by a single ethnic group in the country.”
In a statement issued in Enugu by its National Secretary, Abia Onyike, the ADF called on President Tinubu to stop “hiding under the cloak of Emefiele’s trial to execute a selective purge in the financial sector by scandalizing rival groups in their bid to consolidate their hegemony on the Nigerian economy.”
The organisation decried the mass purge which it said has emasculated the Igbo nation and other sections of Nigeria from Nigeria’s apex financial institution. The ADF contends that the Tinubu administration was on a “sectional” mission annex the nations critical financial institutions.
“The South-West agenda of economic hegemony corresponds to the control of AMCON, NDIC, FIIRS etc. by the same region. With these institutions in their hands, their control of the Nigerian economy is already complete,” the statement noted.
The CBN under Mr. Olayemi Cardoso who was appointed by President Tinubu 10 months ago has reportedly sacked over 500 workers, most of them mid-level or senior management staff.
Also, the immediate past governor of the CBN, Mr. Godwin Emefiele has been detained and currently facing a plethora of fraud and corruption charges in many Federal High Courts.
The latest victims of the mass sack include:
- Clement Oluranti Buari, Director, Strategy Management
- Dr Blaise Ijebor, Director, Risk Management
- Lydia Ifeanyichukwu Alfa, Director, Internal Audit
- Jimoh Musa Itopa, Director, Capacity Development
- Muhammad Abba, Director, Human Resources
- Rabiu Musa, Director, Finance
- Dr Mahmud Hassan, Director, Trade & Exchange
- Dr Ozoemena S. Nnaji, Director, Statistics
- Dr Omolara Duke, Director, Financial Markets
- Chibuike D. Nwaegerue, Director, Other Financial Institutions Supervision
- Chibuzo A. Efobi, Director, Payments System Management
- Haruna Bala Mustafa, Director, Financial Policy and Regulation
- Rakiya Shuaibu Mohammed, Director, Information Technology
- Benjamin Nnadi, Director, Reserve Management
The full statement reads:
The AlaIgbo Developmbent Foundation (ADF) has critically reviewed the recent sack of Directors and Senior Management Staff in the Central Bank of Nigeria and wishes to make the following observations:
1.ADF condemns the mass purge of Igbo technocrats and other senior operatives in the Central Bank of Nigeria. It is unfortunate that the purge was a calculated effort to wipe out the Igbo elements occupying Directorship positions in the Nation’s apex bank as there is virtually no Director of Igbo extraction left in the CBN after the mass sack. This is contrary to the Federal Character Principle which promotes equity and spread in senior Management positions in the country.
The ADF believes that the administration of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, instead of embarking on the overall policy of economic recovery for the benefit of all Nigerians has decided to adopt separatist economic measures based on Ethnic profiling and sectional agenda.
There is an on-going policy of caging the financial sector by a single geopolitical zone in the country for its pecuniary gains. The total taking over of the CBN is the latest in a series of policy steps tailored to complete the total annexation of all major economic institutions by a single ethnic group in the country. Even the policy of seeing Lagos as the financial headquarters of Nigeria is questionable. Why only Lagos? What of Port-Harcourt or Owerri as Oil headquarters of Nigeria?
The South-West agenda of economic hegemony corresponds to the control of AMCON, NDIC, FIIRS etc. by the same region. With these institutions in their hands, their control of the Nigerian economy is already complete.
The National Assembly should set up a Panel to probe current happenings in the Nigerian financial institutions. The postulation by agents of the government that what is happening in the Central Bank of Nigeria is an effort to reposition and restructure its operations is seen by Nigerians as a concoction to hoodwink them.
The Tinubu administration is hiding under the cloak of Emefiele’s trial to execute a selective purge in the financial sector by scandalizing rival groups in their bid to consolidate their hegemony on the Nigerian economy.
ADF, therefore calls on the Tinubu administration to embark on a general probe of the Buhari administration instead of engaging in orchestrated selective trials.
No ethnic group or geopolitical zone should see the Nigerian economy as its exclusive preserve. There should be transparency and healthy competition in the course of rebuilding the Nigerian economy.