The suspended Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Godwin Emefiele, is facing a tough interrogation by the Department of State Services (DSS) over alleged terrorism financing, forex fraud and mismanagement of the economy and the apex bank.
Emefiele, who was removed from office by President Bola Tinubu on Friday, was arrested in Lagos on Saturday by DSS operatives and flown to Abuja in a private jet. He is currently being detained at the DSS headquarters pending further investigation.
A source close to the DSS told Punch that the agency would likely seek a court order to detain Emefiele for an indefinite period.
The source said that the DSS had assembled a team of crack interrogators to quiz Emefiele on wide-ranging issues, including alleged loans worth billions of naira given to farmers under the Fadama scheme, which were believed to have been marred by fraud; the controversial sale of Polaris Bank, which was also allegedly fraught with irregularities; alleged financing of the Indigenous People of Biafra by the suspended CBN boss, and other allegations bordering on forex fraud.
The source also said that Emefiele would be grilled on the CBN’s fiscal policies, including the handling of the naira redesign policy, which led to the scarcity of naira notes and caused a nationwide economic crisis, resulting in riots, attacks on banks and death of some citizens.
The source added that Emefiele’s aides and other top directors of the CBN would also be interrogated in the coming weeks as part of a comprehensive probe of Emefiele’s administration as directed by the President.
According to the source, DSS would likely go after senior officials in the procurement department of the CBN as well as special advisers to the embattled governor.
The source stated, “One of those under the radar of the DSS is a special adviser to the CBN governor.
“He retired from the CBN in 2021 as a director but was retained by Emefiele as a special adviser. He is believed to have an inside knowledge of all the actions taken by Emefiele.
“Other subjects of interest are senior officials and directors in the procurement department. The fact is that many top directors will be invited or arrested for questioning in the weeks ahead.”
The source noted that their level of complicity would determine if they would retain their jobs or face prosecution at the end of the investigation.
