President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has suspended the Central Bank Governor, Godwin Emefiele, CFR, from office with immediate effect.
The suspension was announced late on Friday night and was quickly followed by reports that the suspended governor has been arrested by the Department of State Services (DSS).
The secret police has however refused to either deny or confirm Emefiele’s arrest.
According to a statement from the office of the secretary to the government of the federation, this is sequel to the ongoing investigation of his office and the planned reforms in the financial sector of the economy.
The statement however did not specify the nature of the investigation or when it was launched.
The DSS had in February 2023, accused suspended CBN governor, Godwin Emefiele of terrorists financing.
However, DSS spokesperson, Dr Peter Afunanya, asked to confirm the arrest, only said “Inundated. I may not be able to make any confirmations NOW, please.”
LEADERSHIP Sunday reports that Emefiele had been accused by the DSS of fraternizing with a well-known terror financier, whose name was not disclosed.
The DSS said the CBN governor was involved in the financing of terrorism and must answer for the alleged crime.
Back in February, it said preliminary investigation revealed various acts of terrorism financing, fraudulent activities perpetrated by Emefiele and his involvement in economic crimes of national security dimension.
In the heat of the case, the DSS had tried to arrest Emefiele but a Federal High Court in Maitama, Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja issued an order restraining it from arresting Emefiele.
This ruling, delivered by Justice M.A. Hassan also applied to the Inspector-General of Police (IGP), the Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF), the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) who were listed as defendants.
Earlier, a Federal High Court sitting in Abuja declined an application filed by the DSS to arrest and detain Emefiele over the grave allegations against him.
In declining the motion ex parte filed by the secret police, Justice J. T. Tsoho, the Chief Judge, said the DSS did not provide any concrete evidence to substantiate its claims that Emefiele was involved in terrorism financing and economic crimes.
When Emefiele returned to Nigeria after spending several weeks away, military personnel and intelligence officers were deployed to ensure that he was not arrested by the DSS.
The then CBN governor headed to his office after his return with massive security, specifically military protection.
Recall that Emefiele had nursed presidential ambition and attempted to vie for the office on the platform of the ruling All Progressives Congress.
After facing opposition from some quarters including within the CBN, Emefiele approached the Delta State High Court sitting in Kwale, Ndokwa West local government area, Delta State, to get an order restraining the apex bank and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), from stopping him from contesting the 2023 presidential election.
He eventually backed down after it was clear that he would have to resign from office to contest the presidential primary election of the ruling party.
While in office, he also introduced a redesigned Naira currency weeks before the presidential election with political pundits insinuating the policy was targeted at the presidential campaign of Bola Tinubu, now president.
Emefiele in the statement from the office of the SGF was 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.
Folashodun is the deputy governor, Operations of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN)
He began his working experience as a Consultant Engineer at Mek-ind Associates and worked from 1984 to 1989. From 1989 to 1990, he was a Marketing Executive at Inlaks Computers Limited.
He moved to Citibank Nigeria Limited as Head, Treasury Operations from 1990 to 1993. He joined Agusto & Co. Ltd as a Supervising Consultant from 1993 to 1996 from where he moved to MBC International Limited as Deputy General Manager, Banking Operations & Information Technology from 1999. In 1999, he joined First City Monument Bank (FCMB) Limited as Vice-President, Operations & Information Technology and was there till 2002.
In 2003, he moved from FCMB to Ecobank Nigeria Plc as an Executive Director, Operations & Information Technology and in 2007 he became the Director, Information Technology and Corporate Services, Renaissance Securities Nigeria Limited. He was recruited by Union Bank of Nigeria Limited as an Executive Director, Operations, Technology and Services, September 2009 to April 2012.
He became the managing director irector/CEO, Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement System Plc from May 2012 to October 2018. October 2018 to date, Mr. Folashodun is the Deputy Governor, Operations of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) representing the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria on the Board of FIRS since the 9th of December, 2019. He is married with children.
On June 9, 2023, he became the Acting Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN)
Mr. Folashodun Adebisi was born on the 7th of March, 1962. He attended the University of Lagos from 1978 to 1983 and obtained a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering.
He further obtained a Master of Science in Mechanical Engineering in 1985 with bias in Production Engineering from the same University. From 1988-1989 he shifted grounds to Finance and obtained a Masters’ in Business Administration specialising in Finance.
Meanwhile, the CEO of Centre for the Promotion of Private Enterprise (CPPE), Dr. Muda Yusuf, said that the suspension of the CBN Governor did not come as a surprise, saying that President Bola Tinubu has made it known that there was need for a thorough house cleaning at the CBN and the general monetary policy environment.
According to Yusuf, Tinubu did not hide his feelings about the need to reform the CBN and to do house cleaning in CBN. He was also very clear about not being in support of some major policies of CBN, which is in the area of the foreign exchange policy and naira redesign.
“He did not hide his displeasure. With this, it shows that the continue is not consistency with some of his policy position. The result is what we are seeing. They are not on the same page as far as fundamental policies are concern.”
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