South East nominee rejects Tinubu’s top CBN job

Urum Kalu-Eke, 60, Group Managing Director of FBN Holdings till December 2021, rejected President Bola Tinubu's nomination to the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Board of Directors on Thursday, declining to go before the Senate, where four others were confirmed.

On the same day that the National Assembly's higher legislative chambers affirmed Robert Agbide, Ado Yakubu Wanka, Murtala Sabo Sagagi, and Muslimat Olanike Aliyu for the top position, Kalu-Eke, whose name had been transmitted along with others, was nowhere to be found.

Adetokunbo Abiru (APC - Lagos-East), Chairman of the Senate Committee on Banking, Insurance, and Other Financial Institutions, who conducted the screening exercise for the rest and recommended the remaining four nominees for Senate confirmation, said he could not do the same for the South East nominee due to his failure to appear.

However, Orji Uzor Kalu, former Governor of Abia State from whence the nominee belongs, and former Chief Whip of the Senate, who promptly rationalised the event, stated that the top banker declined the job because he did not want to be caught up in the web of conflict of interest.

Kalu, who confirmed that Kalu-Eke was a member of his constituency, told his colleagues that the former FBN boss had previously called him to say that he was engaged and consulting for some public and private bodies within and outside the country, and that accepting a position on the CBN board would be "conflicting" with the current work he was involved in.