The arrest of the suspended Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) governor, Godwin Emefiele, has sparked a wave of criticism from Nigerians who are now calling for the arrest and investigation of everyone who served under the administration of former President Muhammadu Buhari for alleged fraud.
Former Kaduna Central Senator, Shehu Sani, has accused the Buhari administration of borrowing money from the CBN without prior approval. After Emefiele was arrested by the Department of State Services (DSS), Sani tweeted that the “Buhari government withdrew money from the CBN, spent it, and then went to the National Assembly to seek for an approval of the money they had already spent. That was how the country was governed.”
Many Nigerians have taken to social media to express their support for Sani’s suggestion that all who worked under Buhari’s administration should face the same fate as Emefiele. One Twitter user, Mazi Nzeako, even went so far as to say that “everyone in Buhari’s government needs to be arrested and put away for a long time.”
Bashiru AbdulAziz laments the lack of accountability under Buhari’s watch: “People equate a low-key lifestyle with integrity. A bigger corruption is when under your watch, everybody in your government was an authority, and no accountability.”
Jasper Kalu has questioned what happened to the dismissed Accountant General of the Federation and expressed skepticism that Emefiele’s arrest will lead to any significant changes: “Until there are serious consequences, these things will keep repeating. Emefiele will be questioned and released, at most, by next week his lawyers will file for his release. We know how this story always ends.”
Many believe that Emefiele is just a scapegoat. Emmanuel Chick asks, “Why can’t Buhari get arrested for this?” Lucas said that “not much outcome will be expected” as Emefiele is backed by the high and mighty cabals, and until Nigeria enacts a law to strip ex-presidents of their immunities to facilitate justice, justice will not be served.
@Okeykingsman queried when the Minister of Finance turned Minister of Borrowing would be arrested and when would the Minister of Petroleum, who could not remit a dime into the government’s account throughout the Russian oil boom, be arrested.
As the call for the arrest of all Buhari’s appointees gains momentum, Nigerians eagerly await how President Buhari and his administration will respond to these calls for accountability.
