Abuja, NIGERIA – The Emir of Zazzau, Ahmed Nuhu Bamalli, has revealed how Godwin Emefiele, Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), sacked him as the Managing Director of Nigerian Security Minting and Printing PLC and appointed his in-law as replacement almost as soon as he was appointed CBN governor.
The emir also alleged that all the northerners serving as board members in the organization were removed after Emefiele made it known that he would not work with any of the board members that worked with Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, the former CBN Governor who was removed by former President Goodluck Jonathon.
In a video clip of an interview shared by Albaniy TV, Bamalli, the current Emir of Zazzau, narrated how Emefiele cleared the northern hierarchy of the company.
He said: “Two years ago, that was 2011, 2012 there was a problem and they stopped our M.D, then our board said I should take over as acting Managing Director.
“I acted for 21 months, then the issue between Jonathan and Sanusi came up at that moment, it was affecting us in the north. We were crippled and could not do some things.
“Sanusi was removed and this new governor took over. After he took over, the day he started attending the board meeting six months after Sanusi left, the day he entered, he started studying the board papers and said he wanted to bring in his own people.
“He said he did not want to work with any director that worked with Sanusi, so he retired us. According to him, it’s not because we did anything wrong.”
The Emir further narrated that Emefiele retired them and they were immediately paid their gratuity and all other entitlements to hasten their departure.
“Then they say his in-law should take over from me as substantive Managing Director. At that moment surprisingly, what we went through in the process of examination at NTBU, to become an executive director, you have to first be a managing director.
“This one that they brought in is a divisional manager at Dangote at Calabar but was sacked, from what we gathered. Then he took over from us,” he revealed.
Although the emir did not reveal the name of the person Emefiele appointed, but Joseph Ugboh was the MD of the company until September 2018 when President Muhamnadu Buhari appointed Abbas Madanawa, as new MD.
Meanwhile, Ahmed Nuhu Bamalli CFR had been the Acting Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer and Executive Director of Corporate Services at the Nigerian Security Printing and Minting Plc between 2011 and 2014.
He was also the chairman, Board of Directors, Tawada Limited (a subsidiary of Nigeria security and minting plc) from November 2012 to 2014.
The Emir is a lawyer, banker and diplomat. He was the former Nigerian ambassador to Thailand with concurrent accreditation to Myanmar and the 19th Emir of Zazzau.
Bamalli was appointed on October 2020, to succeed Shehu Idris, who died in September after reigning for 45 years.
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