Governor Bello Matawalle of Zamfara State has asked President Muhammadu Buhari not to approve any study leave or whatever kind of leave for any officer critical to the take-off of the incoming administration of Bola Tinubu.
The governor specifically mentioned the governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Godwin Emefiele, who he said has been speculated to have requested leave and urged the President to deny the CBN governor such a request.
Matawalle hailed the President and his wife for making efforts to ensure a seamless transition and handover to the president-elect Bola Tinubu but lamented that some other officers in government are acting differently.
Focusing on Emefiele, the Zamfara governor accused the incumbent CBN governor of superintending over the mismanagement of the country’s financial and monetary systems. He insisted that the CBN governor must stay to give an account of everything that happened under him to the incoming administration.
“He is the one who initiated and implemented the recent disastrous Naira swap policy, the Naira confiscation program, which put Nigerians through untold woes and trauma and set our economy backward.
“Two of my brother-governors and I took the Federal Government to court over this ill-advised policy and fought resolutely until we got a respite for our people from Emefiele and company.
“This same Emefiele now wants to proceed on study leave when he has some 10 months left of his tenure apparently in a bid to evade rendering accounts. This is unacceptable. President Buhari should not countenance this.
“Emefiele must stay at his job to give full accounts of all that transpired under his watch to the incoming administration. He must answer all the questions the new regime may have for him particularly when he still has some months left of his tenure,” Matawalle said.
He also appealed to the President not to approve foreign postings or grant any foreign travels for any officer at any level in the outgoing government who may be critical or strategic to the smooth take-off of the incoming government.
The governor alleged that some government officers are behaving as if they want to put spanners in the work for the incoming regime.
“I’m aware that some officers in the outgoing government are moving to surreptitiously leave the country at this critical time they are needed to answer specific questions, though I would not want to mention their names here.
“President Buhari should not heed their inordinate and unpatriotic plan. These plans are dangerous and devilish. They show clearly that these officers have something to hide. This must be halted immediately. Any plan to evade rendering accounts is neither in the interest of accountability, transparency, and anti-corruption, which President Buhari had championed in government, nor in the interest of an unencumbered take-off of the incoming administration.
“It’s also not in the interest of the country, which the president has always promoted and championed. This is my appeal and why I have decided to speak out as a patriotic Nigerian and concerned governor,” he added.
