President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has nominated Melvin Ayogu to the Board of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and formally requested Senate confirmation for his appointment.
The nomination was announced in a statement issued on Wednesday by Bayo Onanuga, Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy.
In addition to Ayogu’s nomination, Tinubu also sought Senate approval for Nwakuche Ndidi as the Controller-General of the Nigerian Correctional Service.
According to Onanuga, the requests were conveyed in official letters to Senate President Godswill Akpabio, which were read during Tuesday’s plenary session.
This latest appointment follows Tinubu’s earlier nominations to the CBN board in February 2024, which included Robert Agbide, Ado Wanga, Murtala Sagaley, Urom Eke, and Olayinka Aliyu.
On February 29, 2024, the Senate confirmed four of the nominees, after Urom Eke declined the offer, citing a “conflict of interest.”
Tinubu subsequently replaced Eke with Ruby Onwudiwe on March 13, 2024. However, within 24 hours, reports emerged that the president had withdrawn Onwudiwe’s nomination, allegedly due to her political affiliation with the opposition Labour Party (LP).
The decision was reportedly influenced by pressure from members of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), after it became public knowledge that Onwudiwe had openly supported Peter Obi, the LP presidential candidate in the 2023 general elections.