On Aisha Ahmed’s nomination as CBN deputy gov

We have seen President Muhammadu Buhari remained adamant in the face of criticisms against some of the actions and policy thrust of his administration. He has demonstrated this trait especially with regards to the case of the chairman of the EFCC, Mr Ibrahim Magu who, the Senate and a coterie of vested interests have been […]

We have seen President Muhammadu Buhari remained adamant in the face of criticisms against some of the actions and policy thrust of his administration. He has demonstrated this trait especially with regards to the case of the chairman of the EFCC, Mr Ibrahim Magu who, the Senate and a coterie of vested interests have been campaigning for his removal. In most of the instances, the President has enjoyed the understanding and the support of generality of Nigerians because of their understanding that such interests or detractors do not have cogent and altruistic reasons for their stand. However, the controversy and outcry against the recent nomination of Aisha Ahmad as Deputy Governor of the CBN, comes as a different case scenario.

For once, apparently, President Muhammadu Buhari will have to critically look into the reactions of the people to the recent nomination of Aisha Ahmad for Senate confirmation as Deputy Governor of the Central Bank. Those that have shown disaffection towards her choice have expressed varied reasons why they believe that Mr President must have been misguided or, wrongly informed by those who have his ears and who, clearly for self-serving reasons, want her in that office in spite of her monumental disabilities.

This writer is not one of those that are kicking against the lady becoming Deputy Governor of the Central Bank on the spurious ground that she is not an excellent representation of Niger State as a result of her gender, association and orientation. I am also not one of those opposed to her appointment on account of the fact that her father is a foremost chieftain of the opposition PDP. All these points I consider as cavalier, banal and beside the critical issues. As a feminist of sort, to me, Aisha Ahmad should be considered even regardless of her gender, if, she is suitably qualified. I am also not for the whimsical reasons of her being more a person of the South West where her mother comes and, where she has lived most of her life. I am, instead, pointedly critical of her appointment simply and solely because, the lady is roundly, not qualified to occupy the exalted and challenging office of Deputy Governor of the nation’s apex bank. My reasons are devoid of sentiments. 

First, records of her service in the banking industry reveal that she has been most of the time, and almost all through, a marketer. As against the rule that only people in the core and professional sectors of banking can rise to the position of Executive Director, the case of Aisha Ahmad is clearly an anomaly. Just like in every professions where certain personnel cannot rise beyond some positions, her elevation to the position of an Executive Director is a contradiction that will generate bad blood among key players in the industry. That is, regardless of how much she might have been able to use her connections and competence in the generation of customers and deposits to the Diamond Bank, the fact is that a marketer should not have risen above the position of at best, Assistant General Manager, AGM. Let’s further go by the stipulated condition in the banking industry that, an Executive Director in a commercial Bank must have recorded at least twenty years’ experience with fifteen of those years at managerial positions, and specifically in at least, five different core departments of banking. Not only would it have been impossible for a forty-year old to have met those criteria, Aisha Ahmad’s available records of service reveal that she is far from being an Executive Director in the banking industry. Aisha Ahmad’s appointment as an Executive Director by Diamond Bank would therefore come as curious, suspect and  palpably fraudulent.

The perception of fraud in the young lady’s “meteoric rise” has been further reinforced by the lightning speed and crass circumvention of the rules regarding her appointment as an Executive Director on the 4th of October, 2017. Here, one the disturbing questions being asked by key players and observer of the developments is: why did the management of the Diamond Bank promote her from her position of an Assistant General Manager, AGM, to Executive Director, without recourse to the Central Bank which statutorily is expected to scrutinize the credentials of all persons to be so appointed? Was her appointment fast-tracked to pave way for her appointment to the office of CBN Deputy Governor? This question is very pertinent as it is telling, because, her nomination as a candidate to the office of the Deputy governor of the CBN came hours, precisely four hours, after her elevation to the position of an AGM at the Diamond Bank!

This seeming “American wonder” or, “coincidence”, surely must have the mystical hands of certain invisible forces behind the scene and thus, making the visible actors in the management of Diamond Bank mere puppets. Whoever are those puppeteers pulling the strings from behind the dark curtains, the unavoidable deduction from their action is that, they do not mean well for, among others, the President. They are obviously staining the reputation of PMB as a stickler for uprightness, integrity and due process. Definitely, the President could not have been properly briefed about the correct profile of this candidate because, most informed Nigerians believe that he would not have bought into what is an obvious brazen assault on sanity and enthronement of mediocrity, narcissistic nepotism, impunity and utter disregard for the well-being of the entire nation. Yes, to the extent that the policy decisions and actions of the CBN inevitably and dialectically impact on the fortunes or, misfortunes of the nation’s economy, to that extent is the fate of the country and citizens affected. Mr President owes it a duty to the credit of his person and his administration to listen with a view to righting the wrong.

By the way, if as some have been telling us, the slot of the position of the Deputy Governor of the Central Bank has been allotted to Niger State, then, this writer like a number of other people believe that, there exist in the state a huge number of persons that are very competent with all the requisite qualifications. That being the case, devoid of narrow, self-seeking motives, those the President may have given the job of scouting for suitable candidate, should not have found it a herculean task getting people, men or women, of Niger State extraction in the banking industry. Why then all the fuse, the frenzy and the fanatical obsession that has made them to engage in mendacity and falsifications regarding Aisha Ahmad?

Mustapha wrote this piece from Minna, Niger State.