15th September, 2023
President Bola Tinubu finally sacked suspended CBN governor Godwin Emefiele and his deputies as he announced Dr. Olayemi Michael Cardoso as the new governor.
Cardoso, a banker who had served Citibank in the past was Tinubu’s commissioner for budget in his first term as Lagos governor between 1999 and 2003.
According to a statement released by his spokesman, Ajuri Ngelale, Cardoso will serve as the new Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), for a term of five (5) years at the first instance, pending his confirmation by the Nigerian Senate.
This directive is in conformity with Section 8 (1) of the Central Bank of Nigeria Act, 2007, which vests in the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, the authority to appoint the Governor and Four (4) Deputy Governors for the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), subject to confirmation by the Senate of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
Furthermore, President Bola Tinubu has approved the nomination of four new Deputy Governors of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), for a term of five (5) years at the first instance, pending their confirmation by the Nigerian Senate.
They are: Mrs. Emem Nnana Usoro, Mr. Muhammad Sani Abdullahi Dattijo, Mr. Philip Ikeazor and Dr. Bala M. Bello.
Tinubu’s sacking of Emefiele may reignite the legal tussle between Sanusi Lamido Sanusi and the Jonathan government.
Lamido was sacked by President when he was yet to finish his term. He went to court.
The court asked the government to pay him all his entitlements for the full term.
Similarly, Emefiele, though under probe and suspended has many months left in his tenure.