State of the economy: APC, PDP clash over calls for Emefiele’s resignation

The All Progressives Congress (APC) and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) clashed yesterday over a call for the immediate resignation and prosecution of governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Godwin Emefiele, based on claims of alleged massive looting of funds in CBN.

The main opposition party had called on the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to immediately invite Emefiele for questioning over allegations by the national secretary of the APC National Caretaker Committee, Senator John Akpanudoedehe, that the CBN governor supervised the pillaging of the nation’s vaults on his watch.

Akpanudoedehe has, however, denied indicting the Central Bank governor as claimed by the spokesperson of the PDP, saying that if Emefiele was good and competent to manage the apex bank under PDP, what has made him a liability to the present administration.

PDP national publicity secretary, Kola Ologbodinyan, during a press conference yesterday in Abuja, said Nigerians were shocked when Senator Akpan Udoedehe, on Channels TV programme “Politics Today” of Wednesday, September 15, 2021, revealed that the CBN governor supervised the stealing of money in the apex bank.

Ologbondiyan said, “We have waited for a week for Senator Akpanudoedehe to recant his statement or for Emefiele to repudiate the APC national secretary.
“Our party insists that beyond Akpanudoedehe’s allegation, the tenure of Emefiele as CBN governor under the APC administration has witnessed colossal failures of monetary and fiscal policies, requiring him to vacate the office and hand himself over for investigation.

“It is instructive to note that when Emefiele took office as CBN governor in 2014, the naira exchanged for N164 to a dollar. Today, in the hands of Emefiele and the APC, the naira has tumbled to nearly N600 to a dollar, putting the nation’s economy on its knees.

“Painfully, under the leadership of Emefiele, the CBN has failed in its core mandate of managing the economy and took a dive into propaganda, with claims that do not reflect the harsh economic realities on the ground.”

In his response, Senator Akpanudoedehe however denied indicting the Central Bank governor as claimed by the spokesperson of the PDP.
He said:” They should look for something else to say. I never indicted the CBN governor. I only talked about certain monetary policies that Nigerians have generally expressed strong reservations about their implementation.

“Have they forgotten so soon that we inherited the CBN governor from them? If he was good and competent to manage the apex bank under PDP, what makes him a liability to the present administration?”

Ethnic Youth Leaders Knock PDP Over Calls For Emefiele’s Resignation
A group, the Nigerian Ethnic Youth Leaders Council (NEYLC), has said it is alarmed at the call made by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) that the governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Godwin Emefiele, should resign.

The council, which is made up of the Arewa Consultative Youth Movement, Ohanaeze Ndigbo Youth Movement, Oduduwa Youths and Middle Belt Youths, said it is of the strong view that the call is baseless considering the monumental strides of the apex bank under Emefiele’s leadership.

In a statement, the Ohanaeze youths secretary general and head of coalition secretariat, Nwada Chiamaka, said to them as critical stakeholders, the call has exposed the national chairman of the party, Uche Secondus, and the national publicity secretary, Kola Ologbondiyan, as not being in tune with the realities of the nation’s politics.

“The call is laughable and a sign of a weak National Working Committee (NWC) of an opposition party which is ready to play politics with everything, no matter how unreasonable.

“We pity Ologbondiyan and Secondus because they are like the proverbial drowning men that are desperately looking for a straw to hold on to. We are really dismayed at the level that ambition can push people to.”

Also, the Oduduwa Youth Assembly yesterday called on the PDP to leave the governor of the CBN alone and face its challenges.
According to a statement by the public secretary of the group, Oladele John, the Prince Uche Secondus-led NWC has so de-marketed the PDP that it is unattractive even to the leaders of the party, and an NWC which is literally being forced out before the expiration of their tenure.

He said, “They are calling on a hardworking man to resign even now that the economic indices in the last five months has shown tremendous improvement.
“There has been a consistent reduction in inflation rate the past five months and the GDP has likewise been growing.

“Is it now that Nigerians are beginning to enjoy the benefits of the proper handling of the economy from the 16 years of destruction by the PDP that they have emerged from their moribund and comatose state to throw a spanner in the works?

“PDP has never meant well for Nigeria and this call for the resignation of Mr. Emefiele as the CBN governor now that the country is quickly out of recession only reinforces that popular belief that PDP only enjoys it when Nigerians are in anguish, agony and abject penury.”

CNPP, Political Parties Disown PDP Over Call For Emefiele’s Sack

Also, the Conference of Nigerian Political Parties (CNPP) has disowned the call by the Peoples Democratic Party for the resignation of the CBN governor, Godwin Emefiele .

Stating its position yesterday in Abuja, the secretary general of the CNPP, Chief Willie Ezeugwu, noted that the CBN governor had not done anything to warrant the call for his resignation, hence PDP does not enjoy the support of other opposition political parties in this call.

According to him, it should be more concerning to the PDP that its top and leading members are resigning in large numbers due to the unattractive nature of the party on the watch of the current National Working Committee of the party, rather it is chasing shadows when its house is consumed by fire.

He said, “The Nigerian opposition parties are currently supposed to be undergoing internal healing and rebuilding so as to be well positioned to take over power in 2023, but the activities of the Uche Secondus-led PDP has reduced the politics of opposition to child’s play.”

On its part, the PDP Youth Movement support group (PYM) has likened the call by the PDP to a person complaining about a speck in the eyes of another fellow while ignoring the log in his own eyes.

National coordinator, PDP Youth Mobilisation Council, Abubakar Sadiq said the group was amazed at the irony of Prince Uche Secondus and Kola Ologbodiyan, on whose watch the PDP diminished to its ever worst level and was only made to leave office courtesy of a court order despite fighting to remain in office, are the same people asking another person to leave office when they have refused to step down .

According to him, “Do Secondus and Ologbodiyan not know that their performance at the NWC of the PDP has been the most unproductive, lackluster, uncreative and fruitless period in the history of PDP?

“Do these men not know that they have so made the great PDP so unattractive that governors, senators, national and state parliamentarians and even elected party officials at various levels of the party are now leaving the party in droves and seeking other platforms to guarantee or even brighten their chances of winning elections in 2023?

“Why have Uche Secondus and Kola Ologbodiyan not willingly resigned if they believe that anyone who fails in an assignment should resign? Or are they waiting for the undertakers to come and carry the carcass of the PDP.”

He said, as a reasonable national publicity secretary of an opposition party, he should rather put the failures of the CBN governors on the table of the elected president, and not to officers he has the right to hire and fire.

“Doing otherwise unequivocally shows that Ologbodiyan is working for the larger APC interest and he must be booted out of the PDP.

“Finally, has Ologbodiyan not seen that for the last five months that the economy has been growing steadily and that the governor of CBN has got a good grip on the happenings in the economy, and that with his several proactive interventions in agriculture, manufacturing and in MSMEs, that the economy is picking up despite the insecurity, drop in global oil prices and the global impact of the COVID-19 pandemic?

“Ologbodiyan should know that all PDP members are focused on a successful convention and will not tolerate his distractive agenda as part of a grand plot to abort the upcoming national convention,” Abubakar Sadiq said.