The suspended Governor of Central Bank of Nigeria, Godwin Emefiele, has been arrested by the Department of State Services (DSS), sources confirmed in Abuja.
According to a statement by Willie Bassey, Director, Information For: Secretary to the Government of the Federation, “President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has suspended the Central Bank Governor, Mr Godwin Emefiele, CFR, from office with immediate effect.
“This is sequel to the ongoing investigation of his office and the planned reforms in the financial sector of the economy.
“Mr Emefiele has been directed to immediately hand over the affairs of his office to the Deputy Governor (Operations Directorate), who will act as the Central Bank Governor pending the conclusion of investigation and the reforms.”
Sources said that Emefiele was picked up since the security cordon around him had been drastically reduced with the exit of Presdient Muhammadu Buhari from office on May 29, 2023.
Following the Presidential directive, Mr Folashodun Adebisi Shonubi has taken over as the Acting Governor of Central Bank of Nigeria, in replacement for Emefiele.
Theere has been no love lost between President Tinubu and Emefiele, whom he accused of almost truncating his Presidentila ambition with the new Naira note policy which plunged Nigerians into unmistakable sufferings and pitched his party, All Progressive Congress (APC) and Nigerians.
Emefiele was also a Presidential contender under the APC against Tinubu.
Moreover, the DSS had been made repeated attempts to arrest Emefiele in the past but for the quiet intervention of former President Muhammadu Buhari.
The agency accused Mr Emefiele of aiding and abetting terrorism, and alleged further that he used proxies from his alleged syndicate “to carry out his illegal economic crimes of national security dimension with potent threat to the country’s security.”
In a slew of weighty allegations, the DSS accused him of sabotaging the President Muhammadu Buhari administration, financing terrorism, aiding and abetting terrorism, and committing other economic crimes with effect of undermining Nigeria’s national security.
More specifically, the agency also accused Mr Emefiele of mismanaging the CBN subsidiary, NISRAL, and the central bank’s Anchor Borrowers Programme.
On December 7, 2022, a team of four lawyers from the DSS’ legal department filed its case against Mr Emefiele, seeking permission to detain Mr Emefile for 60 days to conclude an ongoing investigation of his alleged atrocities.
The application was filed as an ex parte motion, meaning it was not served on Mr Emefile.
It was supported by an affidavit deposed to by an DSS official, Umar Salihu, who summarised the details of the investigations into the weighty crimes Mr Emefiele allegedly committed.
The deponent said “there is reasonable suspicion that the respondent (Mr Emefiele) was involved in terrorism financing, aiding and abetting acts of terrorism, economic crimes of national security dimension and for undermining the security of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.”
He said the agency needed to apply to the court “for an order enabling the applicant to detain the respondent for sixty days, pending the conclusion of ongoing investigation …”
On the need for the court to issue the order, he said Mr Emefiele “is a man of means and can easily evade arrest and interfere with ongoing investigation if he is released on bail.”
Citing “credible intelligence”, the deponent mentioned some specific allegations over which the agency was investigating Mr Emefiele.
The allegations enumerated in the application lack specifics or any hint at what the CBN Governor’s motivation to sponsor IPOB and other terrorists’ activities could be.
IPOB, terrorism funding
In about the most horrific of the allegations, the SSS accused Mr Emefiele of funding terrorism, unknown gunmen terrorising the South-east region, the IPOB and its armed wing, the Eastern Security Network (ESN).
The DSS alleged that Mr Emefiele funded them with both the resources he raised for his failed presidential bid last year and funds diverted from government coffers.
Mr Emefiele, as sitting CBN Governor, did bid for the APC Presidential ticket last year with images of his branded vehicles and other campaign materials surfaced online in the lead-up to the party’s primary election.
He also approached the Federal High Court in Abuja to obtain an order affirming his right to jostle for the APC’s ticket. But the court on May 9, 2022 refused to grant Mr Emefiele’s prayer.
The Nigeria’s spy agency said in its filing in December that Mr Emefiele “procures a number of vehicles and disbursed funds for his botched presidential ambition.”
It added that “the said funds and vehicles are being channelled into funding of Unknown Gunmen, Eastern Security Network (ESN) and elements of IPOB, a proscribed organisation.”
In addition, the agency said Mr Emefiele, “on several occasions in actions prejudicial to the security of the Nigerian state,” engaged in “criminal conspiracy to divert government resources into suspicious acts of terrorism financing”.
It said the actions of the CBN Governor were “meant to subvert and sabotage” the President Muhammadu Buhari administration.
But as weighty as the allegations, coming from the government’s flagship intelligence agency are, Mr Buhari has continued to hold one-on-one meetings with Mr Emefiele since December. This raises questions about whether the president has any regard for the “credible intelligence” the DSS claimed it gathered about the nation’s top banker.
The DSS, which is at the forefront of government’s efforts to quell separatist activities around the country, was holding the leader of IPOB, Nnamdi Kanu, in custody when it linked Mr Emefiele to the funding of the proscribed group in December.
Neither the Presidency, the SSS nor Mr Emefiele has commented on the allegations.
Money laundering, fraud, mismanagement of interventionist funds
The DSS also accused Mr Emefiele of “fraud, money laundering, round tripping and conferment of financial benefit to self and others.”
Mr Emefiele is also involved in mismanaging of various interventionist funds of the government under his control, according to the DSS.
Funds belonging to the Social Investment Programme (NISRAL) and the Anchor Borrowers Scheme were among those the DSS accused Mr Emefiele of mismanaging. The two agencies are interventionist schemes to boost food production and encourage farmers.
The DSS also accused Mr Emefiele of mismanaging “other key economic sectors of the economy”.
‘Emefiele’s syndicate’
In another breathtaking allegation, the SSS claimed it was on the trail of members of a criminal syndicate of which Mr Emefiele is allegedly a part.
It said “investigation is still ongoing on a wider scale as other members of the syndicate chain need to be identified and arrested to enable successful prosecution.”
The agency accused Mr Emefiele of aiding and abetting terrorism, and alleged further that he used proxies from his alleged syndicate “to carry out his illegal economic crimes of national security dimension with potent threat to the country’s security.”
Why court rejected DSS’ application
In rejecting SSS’ application on 9 December 2022, however, the judge, Mr Tsoho, pointed out a flaw in the procedure adopted by the agency to ask for an order for Mr Emefiele’s detention for 60 days.
He said the request by the secret police ought to have been preceded by the arrest of the suspect which did not require a court order.
“This is not the situation here, as Godwin Emefiele, the CBN governor was shown on television, even last night, having an audience with the President of Nigeria,” the judge said. “It therefore seems that the applicant intends to use the court as a cover for an irregular procedure which is unacceptable.”
The judge said “an application of this kind (by the DSS) should have evidence of the approval of the respondent (Emefiele’s) boss (President Buhari), that such measures are authorised to be taken,” owing to the “sensitive position” he “occupies…as one of the key drivers of the nation’s economy.”
“I decline to grant this application ex parte,” the judge declared.
Apart from Emefiele’s foray into politics last yea, bidding for the APC’s presidential ticket while still in office as the CBN Governor, drew wide condemnation among Nigerians, the CBN faced scathing criticisms for plunging Nigerians into hardships associated with scarcity of the newly introduced naira notes. Nigerians, groaning over the scarcity of new naira notes, urged the CBN governor to rescind the policy.
The redesigned 200, 500 and 1000 notes are hard to come by at Automated Teller Machines – the only place where money can be withdrawn.
But Mr Emefiele only extended the deadline by 10 days from 31 January to 10 February, which many have said is insufficient to address the acute shortage of the new notes.
The Presidential candidate of the APC, Bola Tinubu, in a veiled reference to the monetary policy, condemned the scarcity of the new bank notes, adding that it was a ploy to scuttle his chances of winning the election.
Appearing before the House of Representatives, Mr Emefiele explained that old naira notes would be accepted by banks even after the 10 February deadline.
The apex bank had on 26 October, 2022, announced the introduction of redesigned 200, 500 and 1,000 naira notes into the financial system.