WHEN the Australian negotiator, Dr Stephen Davis,
alleged that an unnamed top official of the Central
Bank of Nigeria (CBN) was among the sponsors of the
Boko Haram insurgency in Nigeria many people took
his words with a pinch of salt as he had also named a
former Chief of Army Staff, retired Lt Gen Azubuike
Ihejirika, and former Governor Ali Modu Sheriff.
Nigeria’s Nobel Laureate, Professor Wole Soyinka, has
added his voice to this allegation, affirming that his
own independent inquiries showed that the same
individual is indeed culpable. He went on to say that
the name of the person has been made available to the
highest authority in the land.
The question on the lips of Nigerians is: who is this
person? What is so special about him that he cannot
even be named? Why can’t he be brought out for the
public to see the person who has helped in sending
thousands of Nigerians to their early graves while the
nation is faced with the greatest threat to her unity
since the Nigerian civil war nearly fifty years ago? Why
has the CBN remained mute about this issue, since its
name is being dragged to the mud? Why hasn’t the
CBN seen it fit to tell Nigerians what it knows about
this matter?
Happily, the Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability
Project (SERAP), a social crusader organisation, has
taken up the gauntlet and given the CBN a fourteen-
day ultimatum, based on the Freedom of Information
(FOI) Act. SERAP demands information about the
persons involved in the money laundering and
sponsorship of Boko Haram sect. A statement from the
group said the CBN Governor, Mr Godwin Emefiele, is
required to explain the exact nature of any such
transactions.
We commend SERAP for wading into this matter
clinging to the force of the FOIA. We are waiting
patiently to see how the CBN under a new manager,
Emefiele, will respond to this challenge. It will be a
major metric for measuring the seriousness he attaches
to his work and the need to keep the Bank clean of
scandals.
We are greatly worried that the Presidency and the
security agencies have chosen to keep the Nigerian
public in the dark about the truth or otherwise of this
individual’s involvement.
Although the very thought that an individual in the top
echelon of Nigeria’s ultimate Bank and regulator of the
financial system will become a bankroller of our
enemy, yet it is only such a high level conspiracy that
can make Boko Haram to grow into the monster it has
become.
When this fellow is identified, tried and convicted, we
will expect him to face the full wrath of the law.
