Tinubu Vs. Emefiele: Deloitte To The Rescue? – By Steve Osuji

The relentless persecution of Mr. Godwin Emefiele must now stand out as the most defining act of the Tinubu near one-year old Presidency.

For 11 months, in fact, immediately after his inauguration, President Tinubu had set on a hot pursuit of Emefiele who was Nigeria’s apex bank head for about nine years.

Tinubu’s first task indeed, was to grab Emefiele like a common criminal and had him sequestered. A detention that was to last about six months.

Emefiele was yanked off his tenured job as Central Bank governor without due process; and since then he has been subjected to the most intense scrutiny ever visited on a public official in Nigeria.

IN SEARCH OF EVIDENCE TO NAIL HIM:
It wasn’t that Emefiele was arrested on suspicion of committing a particular crime, no. He was framed up ab initio and accused of terror financing. But as it has turned out, this was a ploy by President Tinubu to kick him out of office and switch on his vendetta machine against Emefiele.

After he was ignominiously removed as CBN governor, there begins a  mad hunt for evidence to jail Emefiele. So for the past 11 months, Tinubu is still searching for just any incriminating evidence to put Emefiele away. He is yet to find one.

How do you arrest and detain a man not even on suspicion that he has committed an offence, but just because you want him in jail?!

That’s of course,  reminiscent of evil regimes across human history, that frame up opponents and innocent citizens on trumped up charges in order to do away with them or silence them.

A DIMINUTION OF THE PRESIDENCY:
This singular Emefiele conundrum has defined and utterly diminished  Tinubu and his presidency to no end.

First, Tinubu is now cast in the perception of many Nigerians as small-minded,  vindictive,  unstatesmanly and unwise.

When you have won a major diadem you are supposed to be magnanimous. Magnanimity is the first act of great leadership. The ability to reconcile the injured and the beaten down. A true leader deliberately seeks denouement; fosters peace and a wholesome environment all round.

But a president pursuing without let, an official who acted under authority, who may have injured him in the course of duty, is poor judgment indeed. This chase, as now apparent to all, is APC politics taken to a ridiculous level. treduces the president in stature and character while on the other hand,  boosts and edify Emefiele mire as the days go by.

As Tinubu continues to probe Emefiele without finding anything significant to convict him, Nigerians will begin to appreciate the true persona of the taciturn banker.

Yes, the world watched with consternation as Emefiele prepared an open pitch in the last Presidential fray. He didn’t cover himself with glory in that quest.

But that doesn’t amount to a criminal offence. If anything,  it’s a pardonable infraction.

Anyone conversant with the Tinubu-Emefiele tango would think the banker hefted CBN’s vaults to his house. Yet in all the intense investigations, not a dime has been found on him.

The DSS kicked off the witch-hunt, followed by the EFCC and Special Investigator, Mr Jim Obazee completed the cycle of folly.

But just when Nigerians thought the charade had closed, now this:

THE DELOITTE FACTOR, NASS AND NATIONAL SECURITY:
Deloitte is not only the biggest accounting firm in the world,  it’s an omnipotent capitalism tool.

First, they don’t come cheap and two,  they play deep in the murky waters of global power politics. Their invoice is in millions of dollars. We wager that Nigeria may have paid a couple of  billions of naira to secure the services of Deloitte.

But that’s the small worry.

The big deal is that in the pursuit of Emefiele,  Nigeria may have been made vulnerable  through the giving away of critical financial intelligence and data.

The Tinubu administration stealthily engaged Deloitte Consulting to review CBN’s forex transactions in Emefiele’s time.

Even if we overlook the huge cost of hiring Deloitte to nail one man, what about the security implications of exposing the entire labyrinth of Nigeria’s financial hub to a capitalist agent like Deloitte. No wise sovereign would expose the rumps and innards of her Central Bank in this manner.

Where was the National (NASS) when the FG contracted Deloitte to rummage through CBN files of nearly a decade!?

GOING FORWARD:
Minders of the president must whisper to him that it’s time for closure in his tango with Emefiele. If only for the reason that it’s been going on for almost one year. Second,  it sure has been distracting and costly.

However, a far more pernicious cost of this long-drawn vendetta against Emefiele, is it’s negative impact on the president. Pursuing Emefiele has rubbed off poorly on Tinubu and his administration. Not disregarding the collateral injuries on the judiciary, the DSS and the EFCC.

Since it has become clear that probing Emefiele is not a fight against corruption but an extension of APC’s presidential dog fight,  an out of court closure and a presidential amnesty would be a most honourable denouement.

Wisdom must be allowed to prevail in the interest of all.

Osuji, an accomplished Journalist, Writer, Columnist was Media Adviser to former Governor, Imo State, Rt. Hon. Emeka Ihedioha