President Bola Tinubu’s Special Advisor on Media and Publicity, Ajuri Ngelale, has stated that the signature of former President Muhammadu Buhari was absent from many clearances for the flow of cash within the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) under Godwin Emefiele.
Ngelale, in a Monday night interview with media personality Chude Jideonwo that aired on Channels Television, stated that some of the events that occurred in the Apex Bank under Emefiele must be attributed to the previous administration.
He said, “President Bola Tinubu has come out several times in fairness to him (Buhari), to say, ‘Look, this is what happened under the previous administration’. I think we have to acknowledge the fact that he (Tinubu) understands more than anyone that many of the approvals within the CBN that brought us to this point has no signature to President Muhammadu Buhari and had no knowledge of President Muhammadu Buhari.”
Ngelale claimed that although Buhari made strides in other areas, such infrastructure and business accessibility, it was his disregard for the CBN’s mismanagement that led to the current state of the economy.
“We are not hiding behind the figure on this issue, I think I have been very clear that the prior administration does have to take responsibility for the fact that Governor Emefiele was left in office even though he was inherited and he was given a second term to continue doing what he ended up doing.
“That responsibility and that decision were made by President Muhammadu Buhari irrespective of the fact that President Buhari knew what was going on in the Central Bank of Nigeria. So, there is a responsibility to be taken there, I have to be very categorical about that.
“Now, that does not however mean that you throw the baby out with the bath water. We don’t say because these thing happened in the Central Bank of Nigeria President Buhari was devoid of achievement or devoid of progressive administration.
“Having infrastructure matters, working on ease of doing business, making sure that people can register a company in 48 hours as against six months before they came into office, these things actually have impacts with the responsibility attracting investments into the country.”
