Governor says people calling for CBN governor’s sack are palm wine drinkers

Oshiomhole made the comment on Wednesday, March 23, 2016, during a visit to the office of the National Universities Commission (NUC) in Abuja, ThisDay reports.

“If a governor is doing fine, his hiring and firing is not a matter that should be discussed by faceless Facebook manipulators, and by the time you unmask the people behind it, you will discover that they are palm wine drinkers,” he said.

“President Buhari is not going to be fooled by people who want to have a regime where government is just an onlooker and allow the naira to become worthless and people are making money from speculation. So those guys are wasting their time.

“We have a new federal government that has won election on the basis of change and there are all kinds of people who have made a lot of money from the economy without contributing anything by just playing on exchange rates and commercial papers.

“It is these speculators, because the CBN governor has been saying we cannot open the doors to all kinds of imports such as toothpicks, tomato paste and all sorts of things who have been feeding fat on our common patrimony, manipulating the exchange rate, moving money across borders, and taking advantage of electronic money transfers, that are behind these campaigns.

“Of course there are some opportunistic elements, people who feel that if this man goes, I will get there and they are ready to go to any length to remove him.

“I think this government is making a point that the hiring and firing of CBN governors need not be a political decision, because we should respect institutions; the hiring and firing is not a decision by Facebook manipulators, and by the time you unmask the people behind it, you will discover that they are palm wine drinkers.

“I think the CBN governor is right, he is standing his grounds and those who are opposed to him are free to speak, but I know that President Buhari is not going to be fooled by people who want to see a regime where government is just an onlooker and allows our naira to become worthless and for people to make money from speculation, so those guys are wasting their time," he added.

Oshiomhole was speaking about the policies of the CBN which place restrictions on foreign exchange and imports and have attracted a lot of criticism to Emefiele.