Nigerians in Diaspora Monitoring Group, NDMG, has asked President Muhammadu Buhari to seek the approval of the Senate to immediately sack the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, Mr Godwin Emefiele over what it termed long-running incompetence and deliberate sabotage of the country's economy through questionable monetary policies that ruined the naira.
It threatened to shut down Nigeria High Commission in London should Emefiele not be immediately removed as CBN governor while other chapters of the group have been contacted to take similar actions at the nation's various diplomatic missions.
NDMG said the problems caused by are so grave that he should have been fired immediately while the President retroactively seek Senate's backing but that the need to adhere to due process and the necessity of not spooking the economy were the only argument against such approach.
A statement issued by the United Kingdom coordinator of the group, Engineer Adeka Oyinlo, noted that anyone with honour would have resigned as the apex banker without being prompted given the unprecedented free fall of the naira under Emefiele's watch.
The statement said similar to the employment scandal in which the apex bank boss illegally hired relations of those he wanted to please, the distress of the naira was worsened by steps that the CBN governor took to service the interests of his cronies in and out of government.
It argues that "We have seen Mr Emefiele converting the Central Bank into the personal bank of his business friends which he used to raise dollars for them to execute projects not just in Nigeria but also in other African countries without a thought for how this would affect the nation's economy.
"The CBN has also largely abdicated his and the bank's regulatory roles to the commercial banks under the Bankers' Committee, which has consequently created a situation where a clique takes decisions to the detriment of 180 million Nigerians so long as their bottom line is met.
"This perhaps explains why Emefiele's reactions to the troubled naira has been nothing short of knee jerking that has seen series of policy summersaults that occurred within days in some instances. Not only have the responses been inconsistent they also appeared to be targeted at making life miserable for the populace while strengthening the hands of the forex cabal.
"Round tripping and false declaration of forex application have continued unabated while Emefiele looks the other way as his buddies on the Bankers' Committee make killings on hourly basis. The CBN Governor's only intervention is to further compound the problem by removing those who stand in the way of his friends' profit.
"For the avoidance of doubt, Nigerians who have to seek medical treatment abroad are dying, not just because treatment has become more expensive in dollars-naira terms but also because they now face impossibly long delays in getting forex to commence treatment. Too many youths have also been forced to abort their education abroad and consequently shatter their dreams.
"These nightmarish scenario must end, which is why we are asking President Muhammadu Buhari to immediately approach the Senate to get the necessary backing for Mr Godwin Emefiele's removal as CBN Governor. Where Mr President does not immediately remove him we will mass at Nigeria's High Commission in the United Kingdom and ensure that the place remains on lockdown.
"We have fortunately secured the understanding of our chapters in other countries to take similar steps to drive home the message. Those of us in the Diaspora now bear untold burden because of the hardship trailing Mr Emefiele's poor handling of the naira, which we have been able to establish as a deliberate act of sabotage," the statement said.
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