Yar’Adua’s son-in-law may emerge as CBN gov
From Taiwo Adisa and Femi Olukunle
Wednesday, April 1, 2009
BAUCHI State governor, Mallam Isa Yuguda has emerged tops on the list of possible successors to the seat of the governor of Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), which will become vacant in May.







Incumbent CBN governor, Professor Chukwuma Soludo is set to complete his first term of five years in May but government sources have insisted that the tenure of the Anambra-born university teacher will not be renewed.

It was gathered that government insiders have been tinkering with options of Soludo’s possible successors since the beginning of the year.

In recent weeks, some names have been coming up strongly and these include the Chief Economic adviser to the President, Dr. Tanimu Yakubu, former Minister of Finance, Dr. (Mrs.) Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, immediate past Minister of Finance, Dr. Shamsudeen Usman and the incumbent Minister of State for Finance, Mr. Aderemi Babalola.

While different forces in the power loop have continued to push for the respective names, it was gathered that a think-tank had recently emerged, with strong recommendation for the Bauchi State governor.

Besides retiring as a banker before he served as Minister of Aviation in the administration of President Olusegun Obasanjo, Yuguda recently married one of the daughters of President Umaru Yar’Adua.

The Bauchi State governor is also said to be leading a pressure group which claims to have the ears of the President and is said to be pushing for a clean sweep of some top federal appointments by the North.

The governor was said to have hosted a meeting of his group two weeks ago in Abuja, where it was further firmed up that the North must insist on getting the CBN governor this time.

Though some sources had claimed that the Yuguda option could portray the President as unduly favouring his son-in-law, it was further argued that the governor, being a banker, is eminently qualified for the job.

Other positions the North is angling to take include the Head of Service of the Federation, as Ms Ama Pepple is soon to retire, while the position of the Inspector General of Police (IGP) is also open, as Mr. Mike Okiro is due for retirement.

It was however gathered that Yar’Adua was willing to pacify the South with one of the appointments, before yielding to the request of the Yuguda think-tank on retaining most of the slots in the North.

One of the factors said to be working in favour of Yuguda is the recent representation said to have been made to the President after a meeting of Northern leaders at the Arewa House, Kaduna, where it was further concluded that Soludo must not be made to remain in the saddle beyond May, this year.

His sin, according to sources, was the decision that apparently emasculated the North from the banking system during the consolidation exercise of 2005.

Besides, it was gathered that the President was still dilly-dallying on whether he would release Tanimu as his Chief Economic Adviser or retain the man in that seat, while he picks his son-in-law for the CBN top job.

http://odili.net/news/source/2009/apr/1/609.html

Nepotism at its height.