Senate President Godswill Akpabio says the allegations
against Godwin Emefiele, former governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN),
are so numerous that the federal government does not know which charges to pin
on him.
Akpabio made the remarks on Sunday during a thanksgiving
service organised by Barinada Mpigi, senator representing Rivers south-east
senatorial district.
The number three citizen also blamed the economic hardship
sweeping through the land on the policies and actions that "they
took".
He did not specify who "they" entails
.Akpabio further said the prevailing hunger and economic hardship are consequences of almost 60 years of rot.He appealed to Nigerians to be patient, while promising that
the current administration will deliver on the promises they "campaigned
and danced" around the country for.
"So the kind of debt and the economic mess that we are
in... and lots of people do not understand," Akpabio said.
"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 situation of the country, it was terrible.
"So you know that the former governor of central bank,
we don't even know what to charge him with.
"Whether to charge him for putting foam on top of a
pail, or to charge him for illegal possession of firearms, or to charge him for
printing notes without income. I don't know what we're going to charge him
with.
"But what we know is that yes, there is hunger today
because of the kind of policies and actions that they took and we recognise
that, and I think every political party should recognise that there is hunger
and we're battling to ensure that Nigerians can sleep with their eyes closed.
"There is insecurity. We're battling to ensure
Nigerians can eat three square meals a day.
"But rest assured that we campaigned for this job, we
campaigned and danced around the country. We will not let you down.
"We will get to the bottom of it. All we need is
patience. The rot that has happened in Nigeria for so many years, for almost 60
years, cannot be solved in six months. So what we need is patience... patience
from all quarters."
The event, which took place in Koroma, Tai LGA of Rivers,
was also attended by Dave Umahi, minister of works; Martin Amaewhule, speaker
of the Rivers house of assembly; and other dignitaries.
BACKGROUND
Emefiele was suspended on June 9, 2023, by President Bola
Tinubu, who also ordered a probe into his tenure as governor of the apex bank.
He was subsequently arrested by the Department of State
Services (DSS) and on July 25, he was arraigned on a two-count charge bordering
on "illegal possession" of firearms, at a federal high court in
Ikoyi.
He was later granted bail in the sum of N20 million.
However, he was rearrested by the DSS on the court premises on the same day.
In August, the court struck out the suit after the federal
government filed an application to withdraw the charge of "illegal
possession of firearms" against him.
A fresh 20-count charge was then filed before the federal
capital territory (FCT) high court by the federal ministry of justice.
He was subsequently arraigned at the FCT high court in
Abuja, on a six-count charge bordering on procurement fraud, and remanded at
the Kuje correctional facility.
On November 8, Emefiele was granted bail and released, after
spending 151 days in detention.
On January 18, the federal government amended the criminal
charges filed against him. The charges, formerly six counts, were increased to
20 counts.
The amended charges border on alleged breach of trust,
forgery, conspiracy to commit forgery, procurement fraud and conspiracy to
commit a felony.
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Godswill Akpabio, APC took a wrong decision by removing subsidy without planning on how to mitigate the hardship that must come with it. I have read from the papers the gigantic achievements of Ahmed Tinubu back in the days as governor of Lagos state. He came with the mantra of emi-lokan: that it is his turn to be president of Nigeria. He paid his way through. On your side, you became senate president and now you are saying that all your egg heads amount to nothing towards the challenges you face. It is rather comic coming from senate president. You have not done up to a year and your already lacking in ideas. I can conclude by saying that again and again we are having people that are not ready as our leaders. Imagine when senate president has come out to say that FG does not even know what to charge a former CBN governor for, then let him go home. That is a huge joke that the country has become.
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