Godwin Emefiele was the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria from June 2014 until his suspension by President Bola Tinubu in June 2023.
Emefiele while active as the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, was responsible for formulating and implementing monetary policies.
Nigeria’s Central Bank exists to create a monetary environment conducive to economic progress and to promote a stable and healthy financial system by upholding the highest levels of honesty and leadership. The underlying reason for a country’s independent central bank, commonly known as the Federal Reserve, is the need to shield the institution and its leadership, notably its governor or treasury chief, from political activity and influences. Without such independence, the central bank or Federal Reserve could be persuaded by politics.
Emefiele is fully aware that in most nations practicing constitutional democracy or based on a democratic constitution, the central bank or the Federal Reserve must be institutionally independent from political intervention, but this did not matter to Emefiele.
In terms of institutions, Emefiele looks around and concludes that everything that can go wrong in a country is wrong in Nigeria, whether it is policing, security enforcement, or any other public institution. But he should know better, or there may be something wrong with him.
Politicians like previous presidents Goodluck Jonathan and Muhammadu Buhari have said that because Nigeria is so dysfunctional, its citizens and officials routinely break the law with complete immunity from repercussions. However, Emefiele should have greater judgment, so perhaps there’s something wrong with him.
Emefiele acknowledges the Central Bank of Nigeria’s (CBN) legitimate presence in Nigeria for the purpose of safeguarding the naira and the financial sector. Still, he decided to engage in political theater. Is there a flaw in his reasoning?
Emefiele, the frontrunner for governor of the central bank, knows full well that he is responsible for protecting the nation’s financial stability and advancing the government’s disciplined fiscal policies. Despite this knowledge, he has chosen to act like a politician, which could raise concerns about his mental health.
Emefiele is the chief Treasury officer, and he knows it. Despite this, he acts more like a politician than an instituitionalist, suggesting that something may be amiss with his thinking.
The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) began operations in 1959, a year before the country’s independence, with the goal of maintaining the central bank’s role in the growth and financial credibility of Nigerian commercial banks by ensuring the stability of all financial institutions operating in the country. Emefiele, the former CEO of Zenith Bank Plc, would dazzle the people during election season as he genuinely considered running for president in 2023 while still in government. Is there something wrong with his mentality because he is the first to act in this manner?
No fewer than 100 branded vehicles for the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, bearing the picture of the nation’s head banker, Godwin Emefiele, which was seen around the nation in the nation’s capital, Abuja, when he was still the country’s bank leader. The media became interested and discovered that Emefiele joined the All Progressives Congress (APC) and became a card-carrying member of the party, which is fine because it is his right to vote as a citizen, but for the nation’s head of treasury, whose statutory duty is to issue monetary policies and give directives in the interest of national security and economy, to now act as a politician is gravely wrong, unless something is wrong with his mind.
As Nigerians expressed concern about the man in charge of directing the country’s treasury openly engaging in partisan politics, Emefiele stated that he was still waiting on God to decide, so is he now able to talk to God about remaining the country’s chief bank leader and wants to join the presidential campaign, which begs the question, is there something wrong with his mind?
Then, in front of the entire world, he goes to court with the help of Mike Ozekhome’s Chambers, requesting that the court legally allow him to run for president in 2023 while also serving as the nation’s head banker.
Professor Mike Ozekhome SAN, Emefiele’s lawyer, was unable to obtain an interim order barring the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), the Attorney General of the Federation (AGF), and the All-Progressives Congress (APC) from disqualifying him from participating in his preferred political party’s primary election. Remember, this is the country’s largest banker; thankfully, the court recognizes this reality. The court refused to protect Emiefele from being barred from running for president on any political party’s ticket ahead of the 2023 national elections. As the court prepared to hear the case again, his lawyer, Ozekhome, informed the court that his client had asked for the case to be dropped.
The public believes Emefiele has the right to run for any political post as a Nigerian citizen, but the individuals whose money he is safeguarding and managing believe he cannot behave as a politician while still managing the nation’s money.
With Nigerians perplexed by the treasury chief’s unusual behavior, Emefiele, who reportedly met with then-President Muhammadu Buhari at the Presidential Villa in Abuja while answering State House reporters’ questions about his political ambitions while still in office, reportedly said: “Let them have heart attack, it’s good to have heart attack. I am having a lot of fun.” Why isn’t this man’s strange behavior psychologically assessed? So, I inquired?
Emefiele, reportedly angered and anxious about his stymied political ambitions, said during an intense national election season in October 2022 that the highest denominations of Nigerian currency will be replaced. As a result, there was cash scarcity, rising inflation, and increases in food and fuel prices, among other things.
Emefiele, who has become Nigeria’s most despised man as a result of his abuse of a sensitive public office as CBN, would become a possible suspect of the State Security Service (SSS), a.k.a. the Department of State Services (DSS), which sought permission from the court to arrest him, but Justice John Tsoho, Chief Judge of the Federal High Court, refused. This is unusual behavior on the part of a law enforcement and domestic intelligence agency, such as the SSS, because, as a law enforcement agency, if there is a good ground of suspicion to substantiate an arrest, arrest him, charge him, and then go to court for an initial appearance, and the court should also stop this illegal orders of getting into the business of law enforcement, it is an abuse of judicial power, wait until the case with the arrested suspect comes to court, and as President Bola Tinubu said, “It has become imperative to state here that the unnecessary, illegal orders used to truncate or abridge democracy will no longer be tolerated.” Again, both of these judges, like many of their colleagues, should learn to stay in their lane, which translates to “mind your own business.”
Emefiele appears to be living in fear, paranoia, and uncertainty while still in power, which is not psychologically good for the nation’s treasury. According to media sources, the Chief of Defence Staff, General Lucky Irabor, protected his lodging and whereabouts by dispatching military police and intelligence to ensure Emefiele was not captured by the SSS. Another question is why the military is performing municipal law enforcement functions.
Just this month, Emefiele was suspended from his position as Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) by the new president, Tinubu, and within hours, the State Security Service (SSS) arrested him for alleged security, economic, and financial crimes, and he is now in their custody awaiting a court appearance.
In the midst of everything that has been stated here, I’m not sure if Emefiele, the Central Bank of Nigeria’s now-suspended governor, is mad. I’m not sure if he’s mentally ill or not. All evidence suggests that he may have a personality crisis, as several of his actions and behavior while in government have raised potential red flags.
One question about this man is what happens when someone like him obtains enormous and unique power. I’m not sure if he’s a psychopath, a malignant narcissist, or if he suffers from psychopathy, sadism, manipulation, and paranoia. Or does he have a distinct ego instability manifested by his insatiable desire for unusually powerful activities at the same time?
This individual, according to Nigerians, engaged in highly bizarre, unusual, and uncaring behaviors and verbalizations. As the SSS prepares charges against him and goes to court, the agency should petition the court to request a psychological test of this man to determine his overall mental competency and mental state. A competence examination is a court-ordered mental health evaluation designed to dive deeper into the defendant’s memory of the offense or behavior at the time. We use competency evaluations in determining if a defendant is capable of assisting their lawyers in building an adequate case for themselves. The defendant’s understanding of the nature and implications of the judicial actions instituted against him. Is Emefiele suffering from or exhibiting symptoms of a serious mental condition? His recent acts, such as wishing heart attacks on Nigerians who are concerned about his behavior, are quite disturbing. His acts reflect a guy with an unsympathetic, authoritarian, and heartless worldview, which may have influenced his current behavior in government. Is he a flawed individual wielding much too much power?
This form of test includes several characteristics that can be described by psychological evaluation as opposed to psychiatric evaluation for the courts. For a forensic psychological evaluation, the Nigerian Psychological Association (NPA) or the head of the Nasarawa State University Department of Psychology may be consulted.
Psychologists are trained to administer standard psychological instruments to administer various tests such as intellectual, personality, and psychopathological evaluations; however, I do not recommend using psychiatrists for this purpose because they are physicians who specialize in the diagnosis and treatment of mental illnesses, as well as the prescription of psychotropic or psychiatric medications when necessary.
While I have primarily focused on the now-suspended Emefiele, Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, in regards to the law enforcement, security agencies including SSS, and the judiciary, they should be aware that the rule of law entails sine qua non features of democratic governance such as police officers conducting themselves in an exemplary manner, judges practicing separation of powers, civil groups avoiding manipulative and corrupt behavior, and the media acting honestly and courageously.
We can only hope that under the leadership of President Tinubu, an American-educated man with steadfast liberal democratic and social principles, Nigeria’s public institutions as mentioned here will work toward true democracy. We cannot stay in the dangerous inflection points that currently surround the nation and its people.
