The Department of State Services (DSS) has confirmed that the suspended Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Godwin Emefiele, is in the custody of the secret police.
Development Diaries reports that the DSS confirmed Emefiele’s arrest on Saturday, 10 June, 2023, following unconfirmed reports of his arrest across social media.
In a terse statement on its Twitter handle, the DSS said Emefiele was in its custody for ‘investigative reasons’.
‘The Department of State Services (DSS) hereby confirms that Mr Godwin Emefiele, the suspended Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), is now in its custody for some investigative reasons’, the statement issued by the Public Relations Officer (PRO) of the security outfit, Peter Afunanya, read.
‘The public, particularly the media, is enjoined to apply utmost caution in the reportage and narratives concerning this’.
Emefiele was arrested less than 24 hours after the Director of Information, Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Willie Bassey, announced his suspension in a statement.
‘President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has suspended the Central Bank Governor, Mr Godwin Emefiele, CFR, from office with immediate effect. This is a sequel to the ongoing investigation of his office and the planned reforms in the financial sector of the economy’, the statement said.
‘Mr Emefiele has been directed to immediately hand over the affairs of his office to the Deputy Governor (Operations Directorate) [Folashodun Adebisi Shonubi], who will act as the Central Bank Governor pending the conclusion of the investigation and the reforms’.
The DSS had in February 2023 accused Emefiele of terrorist financing. The DSS accused him of fraternising with a well-known terror financier, whose name was not disclosed.
The DSS said preliminary investigation revealed various acts of terrorism financing, fraudulent activities perpetrated by Emefiele and his involvement in economic crimes of national security dimension.
A coalition of nine civil society organisations (CSOs) had in 2022 called on Emefiele to resign over his involvement in politics.
The CSOs – BudgIT, Enough is Enough (EiE), Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Centre (CISLAC) and Dataphyte, Centre for Women’s Health and Information, Community Life Project (CLP), Sesor Empowerment Foundation, The Electoral Hub and Women Advocates Research and Documentation Centre (WARDC) – said Emefiele’s actions undermined the credibility of the CBN and democracy in Nigeria.
Development Diaries had also called for the resignation of Emefiele over the poor implementation of the naira redesign policy, which brought untold hardship to Nigerians.
While Nigerians await further information on the investigation of Emefiele, we call on the security operatives to ensure that his investigation and prosecution are carried out in line with the law, ensuring his rights are respected.
We also call on the relevant law enforcement agencies in Nigeria, including the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), to also begin investigations into the whereabouts of the alleged N85 billion spent on the failed Nigeria Air project under the watch of former minister Hadi Sirika.
A video showing a plane with the ‘Nigeria Air’ inscription on it trended on social media on the last working day of the Muhammadu Buhari administration.
Sirika also posted the video of the plane on his official Twitter page. Beneath the video, he wrote, ‘We are here. To Almighty God be all the glory. It has been a very long, tedious, daunting and difficult path’.
However, the plane is nowhere to be found in Nigeria and the House of Representatives Committee on Aviation has declared as a fraud the purported launch of Nigeria Air by the Ministry of Aviation.
Photo source: CBN