It’s no longer news that Mr. Godwin Emefiele, the embattled governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) was yesterday suspended by the administration of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
The news of Emefiele’s suspension and arrest by the officials of State Security Service (SSS) is today the trending headlines in almost all the national dailies.
Credible sources around the presidency and the intelligence community told DailyTrust that Emefiele was suspended because of many reasons, among them his recent role in naira swap and cashless policy that mopped up the entire money in circulation in the country, which nearly truncated the conduct of the 2023 general elections.
It should be recalled that Tinubu prior, to the February 25th presidential election, said the naira policy was targeted at him, insisting that he would certainly win the election despite sabotage from official quarters.
A few months down the line, Tinubu who was declared winner of the election and subsquently sworn in on May 29th, yesterday through a statement by Willie Bassey, the Director of Information, on behalf of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Senator George Akume, announced the suspension of Emefiele.
The statement noted that this was 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 CBN governor pending the conclusion of investigation and the reforms,” the reads.
Emefiele’s suspension and arrest could be unconnected to the below allegations which was published by an online publication Premium Times.
The allegations are:
- Funding Unknown gunmen, ESN and IPOB with money he raised for his failed presidential bid last year and funds diverted from government coffers
- Mismanagement of Nigeria’s social investment program (NISRAL and the Anchor Borrowers Scheme)
- Illegall economic crimes of National security dimension
- Money Laundering
- Unwholesome activities through proxies
- Round tripping
- Conferment of financial benefits to self and others
- Threat to National Security
- Criminal conspiracy to divert government resources
- Terrorism financing
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.
serves buhari right.why must you inherit someone employed by your political opponent and allow him to stay in office for the lifetime of your administration despite being advised to remove several times by well-meaning Nigerians ?