The Department of state security service (DSS) has arraigned the former governor of Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Godwin Emefiele in court.
Emefiele has been in DSS detention since he was arrested before his arraignment today in court. He was suspended by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, on June 9, 2023.
The former CBN governor, was brought before a Federal High Court sitting in Ikoyi, Lagos state on Tuesday, July 25th. He was charged with illegal possession of firearms,
His suspension came as a result of an investigation of his office and the planned reforms in the economy’s financial sector with several prominent Nigerians calling for his arrest and prosecution.
Following his suspension, Emefiele was directed to immediately vacate and hand over the affairs of his office to the Deputy Governor (Operations Directorate), who has been as the Central Bank Governor, pending when the investigations and reforms are concluded.
The suspended CBN governor assumed office in 2014. He succeeded Lamido Sanusi, who was equally suspended from office for controversial reasons under the former President Goodluck Jonathan’s administration.
During the tenure of Godwin Emefiele as CBN governor, Nigeria for the first time suffered severe cash crunch early this year, after the introduction of the new Naira redesign policy, which caused a lot of chaos and hardship in the country. People found it difficult to access their liquid cash, which led to attacks on banks by angry customers.
Emefiele was also linked with a move to enter politics. He was suspected of having presidential ambitions after a declaration of interest form was bought in the name for ruling All Progressive Congress (APC) presidential primaries.
Emefiele would later debunk his interest in partisan politics but his silence and subtle actions had led to widespread suspicions about his impartiality as the Governor of the Central Bank in Africa’s largest economy.
