Emefiele May Be Charged To Court This Week

By - LagosCityReporters 11 June 2023 Comments (0) 3 Mins Read

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Barring any change in government’s plans, the suspended governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Godwin Emefiele, will be charged to court this week.

Security sources who spoke to LEADERSHIP yesterday, said the case against Emefiele is a simple one since he has been in running battle with the DSS over some terrorism financing for some time now.

The sources said now that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has suspended the governor, the coast is clear for the DSS to bring him in for questioning and possible prosecution.

Some of the charges that may be brought against Emefiele include terrorism financing, fraudulent activities and involvement in economic crimes of national security dimension including mismanaging the CBN subsidiary, NISRAL and the central bank’s Anchor Borrowers Programme.

The DSS also accused Emefiele of fraud, money laundering, round tripping and conferment of financial benefits to self and others.

Other corruption issues such as the “ways and means” is still hanging around the suspended governor’s head.

According to human rights activist, Sesugh Akume, under the administration of Emefiele, the bank never followed the principles of “ways and means” loans and the loans moved from N789.6billion in May 2015 to N22.7trillion in May 2023.

In a press release by Akume in reaction to Emefiele’s suspension, he said this policy gaffe and others were responsible for “distortions in the economy, including inflation (the rising cost of goods and services) which the CBN itself admits” under Emefiele.

The activist, however, faulted the unilateral suspension of Emefiele by President Bola Tinubu without recourse to the Nigerian senate as stated in the CBN Act 2007, adding that the act “needs to be strengthened to protect the institution of the CBN from abuses, both internal and external.”

He said; “I have been opposed to the rank incompetence, maladministration, and abuses by Godwin Emefiele as CBN governor and had in the past instituted two lawsuits against him and the CBN, and others at the Federal High Court Abuja.

“The harm Godwin Emefiele has done to Nigeria, its monetary system, the CBN as an institution, and Nigerians is incalculable, and he needs to end up in prison someday, hopefully in the near future.”

The DSS had earlier in the day said Emefiele had been brought in for questioning.

That came after the initial reaction by the DSS spokesman, Dr Peter Afunanya that Emefiele was not in their custody earlier Saturday morning.

But in a statement on Saturday, the spokesman confirmed that he was in their custody for some investigative reasons.

Part of the DSS statement read; “The Department of State Services (DSS), hereby confirms that Mr Godwin Emefiele, the suspended governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria is now in its custody for some investigative reasons.

“The public, particularly the media, is enjoined to apply utmost caution in the reportage and narratives concerning this.”

The DSS earlier in the year accused Emefiele of terrorism financing.

The DSS said the CBN governor was allegedly involved in the financing of terrorism and must answer for the alleged crime.

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.

Credit: Leadership