Following his gratifying suspension from office and his long overdue arrest, Godwin Emefiele has recaptured public attention. Nigerians are understandably animated at his predicament and indeed they are right to be. At this stage, many people are of the opinion that it is their patriotic duty to express satisfaction at his downfall. Emefiele brought this on himself, so there’s hardly a whiff of tragedy in it. No, there is only the anticipatory satisfaction of impending karma.
At the height of his inebriation with power, a video emerged of him challenging anyone against him to come and fight. This, of course, included AbokiFx, a live exchange rate platform that Emefiele assumed to be just as powerful as he is, despite presiding over the country’s most powerful financial institution. The clownish press conference reflected his absolute disdain and disregard for the plight of anyone in Nigeria.
His incompetency in handling monetary policies had largely gone under the radar since his appointment in 2014. In fact, concerning his reappointment in 2019, the following words were said by John Ashbourne, African economist at Capital Economics; “(Buhari) just doesn’t accept that a lot of his policies have been counter-productive, and sees no reason to change now.” Emefiele had largely flattered to deceive. Still, only those in economic circles knew he was bumbling foolishly. The general public cared less if he breathed.
He wasn’t satisfied with the lack of attention, apparently, and so he went against the grain of his office and entangled himself with partisan politics. He inexplicably attempted to jostle, politically negligible as he was and now even more is, with other titans and Young Turks for the APC presidential ticket. Sitting atop all that money at the CBN gave him the illusion of power. God made man, man made money, money made man mad. He who the gods want to kill, they first make mad. The entirety of philosophical algebraic expressions concerning the downfall of man and money’s involvement in that downfall was complete in Emefiele.
Again, that did not make him the hated figure he now is. What did that was his harebrained conception and handling of the naira redesign policy. To be precise, naira redesign is a valid and useful monetary policy. But to conceive it for political purposes as every Nigerian, including President Tinubu knows, and to execute it in such a fashion that puts his academic qualifications to utter shame, is what makes his naira recolouring policy embarrassingly uninspiring. Nigerians suffered and died because of his policy. Banks were destroyed. There was uncertainty everywhere. Yet, he obstinately stuck with it.
When he was fingered by the DSS for involvement in terror financing, he felt untouchable due to the personal army security he was enjoying. He flew into Nigeria from his annual vacation abroad and, seeing his army escorts, may have said to himself “those who are for me are more than those who are against me.” With a smug smile, he would go on to defy court orders until the presidency which had erstwhile backed him, threw him under the bus. The army escort did not desert him but he sobered up a bit, starting to come to terms with the transience of power.
Reports are that he had been biting his finger and knocking his knees since President Tinubu’s assumption of office. Now, that which he feared most has happened. Disgraced, forever fingered for international disrepute and now detained in DSS custody, he will have a lot to think about but little time to think about it. The DSS will be doing their job and he will be running the gauntlet of tasking interrogation. He will be cooling his heels in detention but will be sweating on the hot seat of DSS investigations. Nigerians are right to be happy. The caterpillar that was destroying the leaf was underneath the leaf all along but felt that because of its poison, it would not be removed. Emefiele’s story should be profitable for instruction to other public officials.