On Thursday, a Federal Capital Territory high court gave the Department of State Security Service one week to either prosecute suspended Central Bank of Nigeria Governor Godwin Emefiele with a crime or free him.
In a judgement on a basic human rights lawsuit Emefiele filed against the DSS and others, Justice Hamza Muazu issued the order. According to Justice Muazu, the DSS has the authority to carry out its constitutional responsibilities to make arrests, hold people in custody, and guarantee the prevention of internal crime.
But he insisted that these obligations had to be fulfilled in accordance with the law. Emefiele was immediately removed from office on Friday, June 9 by President Bola Tinubu.
According to a statement by Willie Bassey, Director of Information, Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, this followed the continuing inquiry into his office and the proposed changes in the financial sector of the economy.
The statement claims that Emefiele has been instructed to immediately transfer control of his office’s business to the Deputy Governor (Operations Directorate), who would serve as the CBN governor while the inquiry and reforms are being completed.
Mr. Folashodun Adebisi Shonubi was designated as the Operations Directorate’s Deputy Director by the CBN.Emefiele was apprehended by the DSS, who quickly apprehended him and put him into jail. Emefiele, who was appointed the apex bank’s governor on June 4, 2014, was also at the centre of a storm in January 2023 when security operatives attempted to arrest him over allegations of terrorism financing and economic crime.
Also, the introduction of the naira redesign policy by the Emefiele-led CBN in October 2022 started on a controversial note as the then Minister Finance, Budget and National Planning, Zainab Ahmed, kicked against it barely 48 hours after it was announced. Ahmed had stated that her ministry was not consulted and she was not aware of the monetary policy.
The reaction generated tension and uncertainty until the Presidency confirmed that Buhari approved the policy, which it said was to manage inflation, combat currency counterfeiting and ransom payment. The CBN launched a cash swap scheme in many local government areas in early January 2023 to reach individuals in rural communities who had been complaining about the lack of banks in their locations.
The country experienced economic hardship as a result of both the old and new naira notes falling out of circulation, thus the apex bank changed the original deadline for the old notes to stop being legal tender from January 31, 2023 to February 10, 2023.
Fuel shortages across Nigeria made the issue worse as Nigerians criticized the government’s initiatives as being poorly thought out. The All Progressives Congress candidate for president at the time, Tinubu, also criticized those responsible for the redesign of the naira, which he said was aimed against his campaign.
