Emefiele In DSS Custody After Suspension By Tinubu
The suspended Governor of Central Bank of Nigeria, Godwin Emefiele, has been arrested by the Department of State Services, DSS.
The arrest was reported shortly after President Bola Tinubu suspended Emefiele on Friday.
According to the president, Emefiele was suspended due to the ongoing investigation of his office and the planned reforms in the financial sector of the economy.
Tinubu had, at the height of electioneering, said the naira policy was targeted at him, insisting that he would certainly win the election despite sabotage from official quarters.
It was learnt that the SSS, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and many financial regulatory agencies, both at home and abroad, have issues to grind with the embattled Emefiele.
The announcement of his suspension was contained in a statement released on Friday night by Willie Bassey, the Director of Information, on behalf of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Senator George Akume.
An online platform, Premium Times, recently published some of the exclusive details it got from court documents on the controversy around the trail for Emefiele, among them funding “unknown gunmen” and members of the outlawed IPOB.
In the report by the online medium, Emefiele was also accused of sabotaging President Buhari’s administration, financing terrorism, aiding and abetting terrorism and committing other economic crimes to undermine Nigeria’s national security.
It also accused the CBN governor of mismanaging its subsidiary, NIRSAL and the bank’s Anchor Borrowers Programme.
The SSS alleged that Emefiele funded the IPOB/Eastern Security Network (ESN) with both the resources he raised for his failed presidential bid last year and funds diverted from government coffers.
Recall that a team of four lawyers from the legal department of the secret security agency filed its case (ex parte motion) against Emefiele on December 7, 2022, seeking permission to detain him for 60 days to conclude an investigation of his alleged atrocities.
However, on December 9 last year, a Federal High Court in Abuja declined the SSS application to arrest and detain the CBN governor.
In declining the motion of ex parte filed by the secret police, Justice J. T. Tsoho, the chief judge, said the agency did not provide any concrete evidence to substantiate its claims that Emefiele was involved in terrorism financing and economic crimes.
The court said that such an application should have been accompanied with the presidential approval because of the grave implications for the Nigerian economy if the CBN governor was arrested and detained.
Meanwhile, about two weeks after Justice Tsoho gave his order, Emefiele got another reprieve from a separate court as the Federal Capital Territory High Court granted a request by a civil society organisation to prevent his arrest.
Justice Muslim Hassan of the FCT court had ruled that based on Tsoho’s earlier ruling, “Any continuous harassment, intimidation, threats, restriction of movement, abuse of right of office, surreptitious moves to arrest and humiliation” of Emefiele, over “Trumped up allegations of terrorism financing and fraudulent practices” was illegal and unconstitutional.
Judge also restrained the SSS “from instigating the arrest or arresting, interrogating and detaining” Emefiele in respect of any matter or policy decision on the Nigerian economy “or for any connected purposes, except by an order of a superior court.”
Reacting to the suspension, Professor Uche Uwaleke of the Nasarawa State University, said the suspension of Emefiele was long foretold.
“The president cannot sack the CBN governor, but he can suspend him, which is what he has done.
“Recall that Mr Sanusi Lamido Sanusi was equally suspended from office by the Jonathan administration.
Tinubu has appointed Folashodun Adebisi Shonubi as the acting Governor of Central Bank of Nigeria, in replacement for Emefiele.
