Of ‘sins’ of Buhari, Emefiele, Bawa (OPINION)

By Kehinde Aderemi

Leadership is nothing but service to humanity. It is the ability to deliver and bring about the necessary changes needed in advancing the cause of humanity.

No matter who is saddled with the responsibility of leadership, either the young or old, the most important thing is the strength of character of the leader as well as the manner by which the leader handles difficult situation.

The way the Buhari administration handled the naira redesign policy showed the weaknesses of a leader that was never been in charge. At that critical time of our national life, Nigerians looked up to President Muhammadu Buhari as a leader that could understand their plights and proffer better solution.

In the end, the old man from Daura made a mess of the entire policy and the new naira note became a scarce commodity even till present.

This piece is not to assess Buhari’s administration, but I must admit that the former president’s eight years was like hell on earth for Nigeria and Nigerians. And his failures as a leader is now obvious with the recent suspension of the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Godwin Emefiele, and the Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, AbdulRasheed Bawa.

It is a matter of concern that within just 10 days into the life of a new administration, Emefiele and Bawa had been in the news for the wrong reasons. The duo had been suspended over their alleged financial malfeasance in their various positions.

Eight years in the life of a nation is very important. The recent drama involving Emefiele and Bawa had shown that the immediate past administration of President Buhari had failed the nation. The unfolding events have shown that Buhari was never in charge of the leadership of this great nation. For eight years, there were some cabals that had taken charge of his administration at the expense of the entire nation.

Buhari rode to power in 2015 with his credentials intact with high hope and integrity. He became Nigeria’s president when we needed a complete change from the usual tradition of waste and corruption.

But it is an irony of fate that he ended up becoming the leader of the most corrupt public office holders in Nigeria.

The CBN governor under his watch took Nigeria for granted and made nonsense of the value of our currency. Emefiele as the CBN governor had the support of Buhari to plunge the nation into a prolonged economic stagnation, especially with unrestricted loans and naira redesign policy.

The reason for the introduction of the new naira note was not in tandem with the results. The timing and the impact on the Nigerian economy was nothing but scam and corruption in disguise.

Emefiele was arrested by the Department of State Services on June 9, a day after his suspension by President Bola Tinubu. He is currently undergoing interrogation at the secret police’s headquarters in Abuja for alleged terrorism financing, economic sabotage, mismanagement of forex and the naira redesign policy, among others.

Now that the CBN governor had been under investigation, I am sure there would be more revelations into many of the “sins” committed either by him or his allies in the government. I pray that his case would not go under the carpet as many of the cases that had happened in Nigeria.

But the lesson here is that we must know that no matter how powerful we are, there is still a day of reckoning. Now that Emefiele is facing the music and the disgrace of not doing the right thing at the right time, the acting and interim CBN Governor, Folashodun Shonubi, should learn great lessons about good leadership and how it affects the people. He must be proactive and see how he can save the nation from this economic downturn.

In truth, Emefiele couldn’t have thought that he would end his tenure as the CBN boss unceremoniously and in such an inglorious manner. But whether he is left off the hook or not, it is in Nigeria’s history that there was a CBN governor that was disgraced out of office for various financial misappropriations and charges. And if he really has a conscience, he would always live to rue this for the rest of his life

The difference between Emefiele and Bawa is not that much. While the former CBN boss represented the old forces, the former EFCC boss represented the young forces.

The Bawa story is that of a young guy that had all the opportunity to write his name in gold in the book of history, but the young guy got drunk with power and found himself on the wrong side of history. From his background, I thought Bawa would transform the anti-graft agency and bring about the needed reform in the fight against corruption.

Reports have it that the suspended Chairman of the EFCC is being investigated by the DSS for alleged misappropriation of proceeds of assets seized by the anti-graft agency from suspects, among other issues. It is sad that Bawa is corruption himself.

Bawa was allegedly arrested and detained by the anti-graft agency in 2019 for allegedly selling at least 244 trucks worth between N20 million and N30 million each to his cronies at the cost of N100,000 per unit, hence depriving the country of about N4.8 billion in potential loot recovery. Bawa’s “sins” were that the forfeiture proceedings of most of the trucks were yet to be concluded when he allegedly disposed of them.

There was another story of how the suspended EFCC chairman allegedly collaborated with the suspended CBN Governor to carry out fraudulent deals with Bureau De Change operators. And, sadly, when we say the youth are the future of tomorrow, how can we explain the pattern of life the youth of this country live.

Former President Buhari may have gone to Niger Republic to relax as he had said yet the corruption engaged in by his allies during his administration would continue to haunt him as a leader with little or no courage.

Buhari’s administration will continue to be a bad reference in the Nigerian history, especially with the subsidy regime he ran for the eight inglorious years.

Today, a new chapter of their activities is open to the Nigerian public and we begin to wonder if Nigeria can still survive the harrowing experience of the Buhari administration.

For President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, nobody gave him a chance of succeeding in his plum job. But the first 10 days of his administration had shown that the Emilokan truly knows the extent of the Nigerian burden on his neck. Nigeria will continue to hope in his “Renewed Hope Project” and see whether the Jagaban would turn the Nigerian story around or that we will continue the old story of bad leadership.

In conclusion, I pray God saves the nation from this peculiar mess of bad leadership and corruption that had been the bane of our great nation.

. Kehinde Aderemi writes from Lagos.