There were no gaudy celebrations or obsequious newspaper tributes when Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Godwin Emefiele, celebrated his 56th birthday recently. Left to associates and acquaintances, favour seekers and subordinates, no amount of newspaper pages and giant billboards would have been enough to celebrate a man in whom they are well pleased.
Rather, the CBN governor was reported to have instructed those planning such activities to desist given the tense political and economic climate. Indeed, at the time, his principal, President Muhammadu Buhari was in his third month in the United Kingdom receiving treatment for an undisclosed ailment.
More so, it was barely up to a year that his wife, Margaret, was abducted on the Benin-Asaba expressway on her way to Agbor, Delta State. The rattled woman who was released after a heavy ransom was paid had yet to recover from the trauma. So, all indices did not favour a birthday celebration.
Regardless, the former Zenith Bank helmsman had more than enough reasons to thank God. He could have been swept away by the Buhari-administration considering he was employed by former President Goodluck Jonathan; he could also have lost his wife during the abduction saga. So, not undermining the place of God in his life, he used the occasion of his 56th birthday to gather a few close friends and family members in his Abuja home to thank God for his enviable life.
