President Muhammadu Buhari yesterday welcomed the governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Godwin Emefiele, during a meeting at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
The meeting was the second between the president and the CBN governor yesterday. Emefiele had been part of the earlier audience granted the Arab Bank for Economic Development team by the president in the Villa.
According to Channels Television, Buhari while receiving him, said, “You are welcome back.”
The CBN boss, however, did not speak with journalists after the meeting but there were speculations that he may have briefed the president on the withdrawal of the old currency and replacement with new naira notes.
Emefiele, who returned to the country on 12th January, 2023, after spending his annual leave abroad, had been in the news over corruption and involvement in terrorism financing allegations, with series of attempts made by security officials to arrest him.
Weeks earlier, the Department of State Services (DSS) had sought a court order to arrest him, but the request was rejected by the Federal High Court sitting in Abuja.
The DSS had wanted him arrested over alleged “acts of financing terrorism, fraudulent activities and economic crimes of national security dimension.”
Earlier, on October 20, 2022, Justice Inyang Ekwo, sitting in the Federal High Court in Abuja, had summoned Emefiele over a $53 million judgement debt arising from the Paris Club refund.
The court ordered him to appear on Wednesday, January 18, 2023, as the hearing date.
However, Emefiele filed an appeal against the Federal High Court ruling, saying that Justice Ekwo erred in law and occasioned a miscarriage of justice when he made an order compelling his attendance in court for the $53 million debt.
Wednesday’s proceedings could not go on as planned when the matter was called, causing the court to adjourn the case till March 20, 2023.
