Emefiele denies that he has been sacked saying he intends seeing out his tenure which ends in June

CENTRAL Bank of Nigeria (CBN) governor Godwin Emefiele has dismissed as untrue stories that he has been asked to leave pointing out that he intends to remain in office until his tenure expires in June.

 

An alumnus of Stanford University, Harvard University, Wharton School of Business and the University of Nigeria Nsukka, Mr Emefiele was appointed as CBN governor by former President Goodluck Jonathan in 2014. A former chief executive of Zenith Bank, he has had an uncertain relationship with the government of President Muhammadu Buhari which came to office in 2015.

 

Over the last four years, there have been constant rumours that President Buhari intends to sack Mr Emefiele and replace him. Ahmed Kuru, the managing director of the Assets Management Corporation of Nigeria (Amcon) has constantly been touted as a favourite to replace him and earlier this week, news was rife across social media that Mr Emefiele had been sacked.

 

However, yesterday, at a textile stakeholders meeting in Abuja, Mr Emefiele denied the rumour, saying he has not been sacked by the federal government. He added that his tenure expires in June and he intends to see it out.

 

Mr Emefiele said: “As you can see, I am here doing my work. My tenure expires in June and we will continue with our work until then.

 

“CBN has been intervening in the economy since 1978 and whoever comes after me will continue from where we stopped. No right-thinking person will discontinue an intervention that is meant to create jobs and improve the economy.”

 

Having just been re-elected, President Buhari will be sworn-in for a second term on May 29, after which he is expected to make a fresh round of appointments. It is likely that he may then decided to retire Mr Emefiele and replace him with Mr Kuru.

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