A chieftain of the All Progressives Congress, Dr Garus Gololo has urged President Muhammadu Buhari to immediately terminate the appointment of governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Mr Godwin Emefiele over his alleged looting of a whooping sum of N89.7trillion stamp duty.
Former secretary of the dissolved Presidential Committee on Reconciliation and Recovery of Stamp Duties Revenue and lawmaker in the House of Representatives, Kazaure Gudaji had narrated how N89 trillion from stamp duties was misappropriated and diverted by the CBN governor.
Kazaure had explained that his committee was secretly constituted by President Buhari, with Adetola Adekoya and him as the chairman and secretary, respectively.
The lawmaker said he had in a letter dated August 8 sought the approval of the president to set up the committee that included the Minister of Finance, Zainab Ahmed, the Attorney-General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami, the Director General of the Department of State Services (DSS), Yusuf Bichi, Mohammed Wakili, a retired Commissioner of Police and one Mr Okafor, a retired staff of the National Intelligence Agency.
In a fresh document sighted by our correspondent, the lawmaker narrated how various sums flagged into various accounts of the CBN were diverted.
Reacting to the allegations, Dr Gololo lamented that while the country's economy was getting worse and the citizens getting getting poorer, those at the helm of the affairs were busy stashing the nation's wealth away for personal coffers.
He wondered how a central bank governor could "heartlessly" corner such humongous sum for personal use even when the Nigeria's currency which he controls daily go on a free fall and had become a laughingstock in the international community.
"Look at our currency today, almost becoming worthless under a CBN governor, yet people who are looked up to as the custodians of our wealth are busy pushing our money away.
"It's really not funny to hear such story this afternoon. I was shocked. And this is aan so trusted by the president. President Buhari reposes a lot of trust in Emefiele and look at the betrayal.
"Emefiele must be sacked immediately, investigated and if found culpable, must be jailed.
"Was it not in our presence that the former Accountant General of the Federation was caught, sacked, prosecuted, detained and is on the verge of going to jail? The right thing must be done to Emefiele is found wanting," the outspoken retired Army General posited.
He called on the anti-graft agencies to rise up to their responsibilities by ensuring that these eye-opening revelations by Hon. Kazaure was not swept under the carpet in order to save the nation's economy and suffering citizens from these very corrupt government officials like the CBN governor, just as was done to others.
According to him, "Look at the state governors in the south, especially the oil producing states. How many former governors in the south have been prosecuted for corruptively cornering their 13% oil derivation meant for developing their states and bettering their citizens' lives? Why is it that only officials from the north are being prosecuted and jailed? Is it only northern governors that squander their states' resources and going to jail? Is it because they're from the north?
"President Buhari must constitute an investigative panel, whether presidential or judicial, to investigate Emefiele, and if found guilty, be subjected to jail. But before that, the CBN governor has to give way first for sound probing," the General insisted.
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