Emefiele Responsible For Economic Rot, Nigerians Should Be Patient — Akpabio

The Senate President, Godswill Akpabio, says the current administration led by President Bola Tinubu met the Nigerian economy in a mess which he claimed was caused by policies carried out by former governor of the Central Bank, Godwin Emefiele.

The Senate President spoke during a thanksgiving service by Senator Barinada Mpigi in Koroma, Tai Local Government Area of Rivers State on Sunday.

“So, the kind of debt and economic mess that we are in, a lot of people will not understand but I remember President Obama saying that you cannot know Washington until you get to Washington.

“So, by the time we went in to look at the economic situation of the country, it was terrible. You know that the former governor of the central bank, we did not even know what to charge him with. Whether to charge him for putting foam on top of the bill or to charge him for illegal possession of firearm or to charge him for printing notes without income, I don’t know what we are going to charge him with.

“But what we can is that yes there is hunger today because of the policies and actions that they took, and we recognise that, and I think every political party should recognise that there is hunger, and we are battling to ensure that Nigerians sleep with their eyes closed,” Akpabio said.

Assuring that the government is making efforts to end insecurity and ensure that Nigerians feed well, the former Akwa Ibom State governor appealed to Nigerian to be patient as the rot over 60 years cannot be solved in six months.

“Yes, there is insecurity, we are battling to ensure that Nigerians can take three square meals a day. But be rest assured that we campaigned for this job, we campaigned around the country, we will not let you down, we will get to the bottom of it, all we need is your patience.

“That rots that have happened in Nigeria for so many years for almost 60 years cannot be solved in six months,” he said.

Following his removal as the CBN governor by President Bola Tinubu in June 2023, Emefiele is being prosecuted by the Federal Government over charges bordering on financial crimes.

On January 18, the Federal Government amended the criminal charges files against the former CBN governor.

They increased the charges from six counts to 20 counts. In the amendment, Emefiele was charged for alleged criminal breach of trust, forgery, conspiracy to commit forgery, procurement fraud and conspiracy to commit a felony.