Emefiele: Arewa Youth Assembly cautions Tinubu against advice by Matawalle

Commends CBN for Naira redesign policy

BY TOSIN ADAMS

The Arewa Youth Assembly has cautioned President-elect, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu against hobnobbing with characters like the outgoing governor of Zamfara State, Bello Matawale, insisting that the governor’s recent statement calling on President Muhammadu Buhari to cancel an alleged application for study leave by Emefiele was in bad taste.

The Assembly in a statement on Tuesday regretted that the Zamfara State governor could descend so low to castigate the CBN governor on the basis of a rumour when he (Matawalle) in a recent press statement was quoted as saying: “If the leave has been approved, as reported in the media, the President should cancel it in the interest of peaceful transfer of power, accountability, and good governance”

The Arewa Youth Assembly statement signed by its publicity secretary, Alhaji Aliyu Sani, reads: “We find it embarrassing that a sitting governor will allow himself to be swayed into believing and acting on a baseless rumour, concocted from the pit of hell, that Mr. Godwin Emefiele has been granted study leave to flee from the country before Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu is sworn in.

“The Office of the President, through one of its Spokespersons, Mallam Garba Shehu has denied the existence of the imaginary study leave. When he was asked to react to the trending news, he responded as follows: “If the governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Godwin Emefiele, has been granted study leave supposedly by President Muhammadu Buhari, this is unknown to us. It is also unknown to the president’s secretariat headed by the Chief of Staff”.

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The Arewa youth group regretted that despite this official position by the Presidency, Matawalle decided to believe in the lies released to the public by an online medium, noting that for the Zamfara State governor to swallow every content emanating from the media outfit, it shows that their publications on Zamfara alleging that the Matawalle-led government in Zamfara awarded multi Billion Naira Contracts in Zamfara without following due process was not far from the truth.

“Instead of him to be afraid of his fate when he leaves office, he is more concerned about the destiny of Mr. Emefiele who is serving Nigerians diligently.

“We wish to challenge Matawalle to make public the number of persons kidnapped in Zamfara State when the Naira was not in excessive circulation and the reintroduction of the Naira following his pyrrhic victory in Court that forced the CBN to recirculate Naira notes. If he can answer this in public, Nigerians will know who has the solution to the problem of insecurity in the country.

“The Governor that has failed his people and the North in terms of security, education, economy and infrastructural development ought not to be heard discussing the national issue. We are in a country where shameless people are the leaders, they wouldn’t mind exporting their show of shame to the global stage. otherwise, how can a man under whose watch.

“While you couldn’t do anything about the situation of your people, Emefiele was busy working hard, feeding the nation, your people inclusive, boosting the economy by impacting all sectors through various programs Viza viz; Anchor Borrowers’ Programme, Commercial Agriculture Credit Scheme, CBN’s Intervention Programmes and Schemes for MSMEs, CBN’s Intervention Programmes and Schemes for Manufacturing, CBN’s Intervention Programmes and Schemes for Export.

“This has helped in increasing revenue generation outside crude oil, thus helping this administration to actualize its diversification agenda, creation of employment, alleviating poverty, and recreating Nigeria’s image before the world.

“So yes, President Buhari has had an eventful tenure, and so does Dr. Godwin Emefiele. President Buhari’s tenure is eventful because he has people like Emefiele.

“On the other hand, the only person seeking to damage the good work President Buhari has done is you, that’s why your people voted for APC in the presidential election but never hesitated to vote you out, because you have failed them. This justifies why you were never voted in the first place, the statement added.

The Arewa youths advised Matawalle to lick his wounds and grief alone, adding: “Do not drag others into your world of shame. While you were busy spending Zamfara people’s money on irrelevant things, Emefiele was busy on Naira redesign, a policy that had the power to stop insecurity, curtailed corruption, and drop the prices of commodity immediately. Conversely, the problems came back in full immediately after cash started flowing, people were no longer safe, and bandits hit Zamfara, Kaduna, Minna, and other parts of the country.

“For this alone, Emefiele should be given a gold medal and celebrated, for he helped President Buhari abide by the constitution that states the security and lives of citizens are paramount.

“All that Emefiele has done with the blessings of the commander in chief, his activities have been completely transparent and accountable, the records are there, the world is digital, every naira, every kobo is accounted for how it comes in and how it is spent.

“For the record, even if there were requests for study leave, it is legal. The Public Service Rules make ample provision for the training and development of Civil Servants, to enhance the officer’s performance, adding value to the Service, and encourage professionalism in the dispatch of their duties (PSR 100223, PSR 100224, PSR 100225, PSR 100226).

“It is obvious Governor Matawalle is the one suffering from trauma and shock from the election he lost, instead of grieving in silence alone, he chose to take a last dance of shame by ranting under speculations of the media he has not confirmed to be true or otherwise.

“Lastly, we wish to call on Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu to note that the North voted for him when the sound of gunshots from bandits went silent as a result of the Naira redesign Policy introduced by the CBN. Insecurity is the reason why our people rejected the PDP, we saw a workable solution to our number one problem. If he chooses to rally obvious failures like Matawalle around him, we will sadly accept that he has failed before his inauguration and nothing good will be expected from his tenure.

“The North has many qualified and respectable persons that will fit into the Presidency of Tinubu, Bellow Matawalle is not part of them”.