National President, Arewa Youth Consultative Forum (AYCF), Alhaji Yerima Shettima, has frowned on series of attacks on the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Governor, Mr. Godwin Emefiele, describing them as a deliberate misinformation, designed to mislead the gullible public and set the people against the hardworking staff and management of the apex bank.
Shettima said this in Lagos on Friday, in a statement made available to the Saturday Tribune, noting that the by some politicians hiding behind the mask of obscure groups and using the media as the stepping-stone were also designed to pressurize President Muhammadu Buhari into taking rash decisions against the CBN Governor.
“The ongoing smear campaign launched against the CBN Governor is a deliberate misinformation, designed to mislead the gullible public and set the people against the hardworking staff and management of the apex bank.
“It is also designed to pressurize His Excellency, President Buhari, who thankfully knows the truth, into taking rash decisions against the CBN Governor,” he said.
The AYCF boss, while saying that his organization was committed to the promotion of the right values and ethical democratic practice, affirmed that the “fringe groups” acting the scripts of their uncharitable paymasters should know that Nigerians were today too enlightened to be ridiculed for political gains.
“They must not forget that despite the fact that our economic problems (oil price fall, lack of infrastructure, insecurity, etc) are not the CBN’s fault, the nation’s economy is already being revived by the brilliant ideas of the CBN governor and his team of economic experts,” he said.
Shettima said there was no justification for the unwarranted chain of media attacks on public officials who were doing whatever was humanly possible to ensure the national economy was brought out of the woods.
He urged them to look beyond their noses and join hands with other patriotic citizens to further sustain the recovery efforts on the national economy.
Shettima also called on all patriotic Nigerians to disregard what he described as “ongoing distraction by shadowy organizations” and contribute their own quota to the development of the national economy and all other relevant sectors.
“We therefore condemn, in the strongest terms, the subtle attempt to divert the attention of Nigerian policy-makers, using obscure groups as the cannon fodder.
“This is abominable for a nation working assiduously to promote viable economic policies and programmes capable of making lives better for Nigerians.
“We cannot afford any step backward in our advancement as a nation. Allow term-limited public officials to serve their term and let the responsible authorities decide whether or not to renew it. Whoever has ear, let him hear,” he said.