Former President Muhammadu Buhari has revealed the reason why he did not sack the former Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Godwin Emefiele, despite the outcry by people demanding his sack.
Buhari, who made this known in the book “Working with Buhari Reflections of a Special Adviser, Media and Publicity (2015 – 2023),” written by former Special adviser to former president Buhari on Media and Publicity, Femi Adesina, presented in Abuja on Tuesday, said he didn’t sack Emefiele, when there were speculations about his presidential ambition, noting that Emefiele never discussed it with him.
This revelation and others were made public in a memoir, which also put up the former President’s defence of his administration’s Naira redesign policy, implemented by Emefiele, claiming that it helped the country achieve a clean general election in 2023.
According to the former President, those who had a problem with the policy were individuals who had too much money.
He said, “The scarcity of money was not deliberately done to punish Nigerians. Democracy allows people to express their will, and we do not attempt to control them. People understood the implications of their choices, and we did not force them.
“My state, Katsina, showed the beauty of the whole system. In the Presidential poll, APC lost, but they came back to win the governorship. Maybe they took things for granted earlier because it was my state, and they thought they would win easily. People do not like being taken for granted.
“I met Emefiele in office when I came, and unless there was firm evidence against him, it would be unfair and an act of injustice to remove him, acting on hearsay.
“If you punish a man unjustly, it could dog his footsteps throughout life, so if you would punish, you must have evidence and you should know that yourself wouldn’t be there forever. You would leave one day.
“I’m very conscious about the morale of people who serve with me. I also expect whoever succeeds me to be fair to me. I have family and friends, who will feel it. I’m very conscious of fairness.
“When he was linked with the campaign for the 2023 presidency, I did not ask him, because he told nobody he was getting involved. Otherwise, I would have removed him and told the nation why.
“There is no denying that the naira redesign policy gave us cleaner elections. It was people who had too much money that had problems with it.
“When it was said that the new notes were not available, over N260 million was found with one bank chairman. Did I take on the Supreme Court on the issue? No, I could not have.
“Some APC governors went to court. I refuse to judge people by my standards, I am not materialistic, but it would be too much to expect all Nigerians to be the same way. It is not fair to condemn anybody, but it is up to them and their conscience. I want to continue to conduct myself with a clear conscience so that when I go to bed, I sleep off immediately”.