The Concerned Northern Forum has urged President Bola Tinubu to exercise extreme caution over the report submitted to him by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN)’s private investigator, Jim Obazee.
The forum described the investigation by Obazee conducted to check the activities of the country’s apex bank under its suspended Governor, Godwin Emefiele as one-sided and partial, noting that some of Obazee’s recommendations are fatal to the economic wellbeing of Nigeria.
Obazee who was appointed special investigator in July 2023, submitted his final report tagged, ‘Report of the Special Investigation on CBN and Related Entities (Chargeable offences) to the Presidency on December 20, 2023.
In the report, he revealed that the former CBN governor illegally lodged billions of naira in foreign currencies in no fewer than 593 bank accounts in the United States, United Kingdom, and China without the approval of the apex bank’s board of directors and the CBN Investment Committee.
The private investigator also alleged that some persons were used as proxies by Emefiele to set up Titan Trust Bank and acquire Union Bank.
But the northern group in a statement, Tuesday by its chairman, Aliyu Muhammad said the President must trade with a high level of caution, saying he (the president) might be blindfolded and walking in a field full of buried land mines.
Muhammad alleged that Obazee himself was not qualified to lead any special investigation most especially one that has to do with finance given his antecedents.
He said: “The man hired by President Tinubu is at the heart of scandals that involved siphoning and squandering of billions of naira while he was the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Financial Reporting Council of Nigeria (FRC), awarding and procurement of contracts to self using proxies, racketeering, acquiring luxury properties worth billions both at home and abroad that his salary could never justify and also accused of sexual harassment.
“A known and tagged man of controversies, with so many dirty cuts on his character and financial records is not the man for such a job. Obazee’s professionalism, patriotism and loyalty are all questioned, his priorities are his financial gains or personal scores he set out to settle. Jim Obazee should be investigated and not the other way round.
“Unless the President is interested in his expertise of personal witch hunt and controversies that are capable of inciting chaos, Jim Obazee has no business investigating the CBN or any other financial institution for that matter. Mr President should heed to the action of firing Jim Obazee by his Predecessor, former President Muhammadu Buhari who is known to despise and fight corruption.
“Yes, CBN should be probed and investigated, but not by an individual with questionable character, integrity and a tone of corruption cases, graft and misuse of public funds himself.
“Therefore, President Bola Tinubu must not use this report, its basis are as compromised as the author of the report. It is one sided, partial and some of it’s recommendations are fatal to the economic wellbeing of Nigeria.”