OPINION: MONGUDU, EMEFIELE AND THE BAIL BURDEN
MONGUDU,
EMEFIELE AND THE BAIL BURDEN
Erin ku, mongudu fi je, efon ku, mongudu
fi je, mongudu ku ko reni ti o jeun.
Mongudu is the traditional earthenware cooking pot common
among the Yoruba tribe of the south western Nigeria. The cooking pot is thick
and can withstand any heat, so many find it ideal for large volume cooking.
Orantimi’s Poetic License readily comes to
mind:
MONGUDU
The elephant dies and melts
Melts off in the bowels of Mongudu
The buffalo dies and melts
Melts off in the bowels of Mongudu
Mongudu the melting pot!
The melting pot of ancient days
Neither the thickness of the elephant’s skin
Nor the filthiness of the pig’s
Is a threat to Mongudu
Once on heat
Mongudu boils them all
Tell all the Mongudus
That the decadence of a pot
Is the concern of only the pot owner
Tell Mongudu
A water pot is good
Only for as long as it is clean
Water is not water
We may not know their sources
Rain is not river
All may not flow
A well is not a pool
Nor is it a pond
Even at boiling point
Some waters are still contagious
Tell Mongudu
The parable of the squirrel
Let her know
In what delights the mouth
Lies the death of the eater
Tell her
The pot is the eye of the body
May it see no evil.
Mongudu is a ready pot
As rough as the crocodile
As ugly as the Hippo
All melt in Mongudu
Could it be gluttony?
Perhaps it is avarice
Heat is all and one to her
Duration and intensity notwithstanding
Alas! Mongudu boils on
Then comes the day of reckoning
The news goes a beckoning
Mongudu is cold
But no one is bold
Some heat to share
With the melting pot of ancient days
Mongudu the melting pot dies
Alas! No melting pot for Mongudu
Mongudu stinks.
The poem simply points out that when the repercussion
comes, no one will be there to share their predicament with them.
Justice Hamza Muazu of the Federal Capital Territory High Court Abuja, has granted the immediate past Governor of the Central Bank, Mr Godwin Emefiele, bail in the sum of N300 million and two sureties in like sum.
The sureties must have certificates of occupancy and titles
of properties within the Maitama District.
Emefiele is mandated to deposit all his travel documents
with the registrar of the court and must remain within the Abuja Municipal
Council.
He is expected to remain in Kuje Correctional Centre
pending when he meets the bail conditions.
Emefiele was the governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria for
nine years; from 4 June 2014 to 9 June 2023 when he was suspended by President
Bola Tinubu.
During his first term, he supervised an interventionist
currency policy at the behest of the presidency, propping up the Nigerian Naira
by pumping billions of dollars into the foreign exchange market. He also
introduced a multiple exchange rate regime to try to mask pressure on the Naira
and avoid a series of devaluations.
The suspension is sequel to ongoing investigation of his
office and also the planned reforms in the financial sector of the economy.
Emefiele was directed to hand over the affairs of his
office to the Deputy Governor (Operations Directorate) Folashodun Adebisi
Shonubi, who will act as the Central Bank Governor pending the conclusion of
the investigation and the reforms.
On 10 June 2023, the Department of State Services (DSS)
confirmed the arrest of Emefiele at exactly 14:28 WAT through their official
twitter page. He was reportedly brought in for interrogation in regards to the
investigation of his office, and a short video clip of him stepping out of an
executive Hilux car in a close walk accompaniment by DSS officers into a
waiting private jet ran wild in the media. He was charged in July 2023. He was
re-arrested by the DSS on 25 July 2023, at the Federal High Court in Lagos.
While he held sway as the helmsman of Nigeria, Emefiele
was arguably the most powerful CBN governor in Nigeria’s history.
The high and mighty, Business moguls, Bank Chief
Executives and Industrialists bow down to the man who held the strings of the
National treasury.
Many governors, Ministers and heads of MDAs would give
their right arms to be acquainted to Emefiele.
It is shocking that Godwin Emefiele could not perfect his
bail conditions almost two weeks after being granted bail. Its not about the
money, I’m sure.
Nobody wants to risk falling out of favour by providing
the needed surety for Emefiele.
No big man wants to risk his landed property in Maitama
for the erstwhile Apex Bank chief.
It’s a great lesson for everybody who wields power today.
Those who bow and tremble before you today do so for that position and not your
self.
Without that power or that position you have today, you
are a nobody.
When the chips are down you are On Your Own.
Without the power, the sirens won’t blare and the cheers
would stop.
Nobody leaves the road for a man on account of riding a
horse yesterday.
So the once
powerful Emefiele continues to wallow in Kuje, alone with no friends.
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