Following the return of the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Godwin Emefiele into Nigeria and his subsequent resumption of duty, the Department of State Service (DSS) has denied arresting the CBN boss.
The apex bank had said Emefiele embarked on his annual leave abroad in the wake of his face-off with the secret police in December, 2022.
DSS had in recent times made frantic efforts to apprehend Emefiele over alleged terrorism funding.
Also, the agency had reportedly a wide range of probes into the foreign exchange received by deposit money bank in Nigeria and their subsequent allocation to customers as well as the culpability or otherwise of the apex bank.
After a few days of absence in the country, the Director, Public Relations of the apex bank, Osita Nwanisobi, said Emefiele resumed duty on Monday, January 16, 2023 after arriving Nigeria.
Subsequent to his arrival and resumption of duty, there were speculations that DSS operatives stormed the CBN headquarters in Abuja and whisked Emefiele away.
Reacting, the secret police debunked the speculation, saying the viral news that it besieged the bank to arrest Emefiele was untrue.
In a statement by the DSS Public Relations Officer, Peter Afunanya, described the news said to have been reported by some media organisations (excluding Investors King) that it stormed the CBN headquarters as fake news.
Afunaya said, “the attention of the DSS has been drawn to the false news making the round that its operatives invaded the Central Bank of Nigeria and arrested its Governor, today 16/1/23. This is fake news and quite misleading.”
Meanwhile, the CBN has revealed that one of the key duty that brought Emefiele back to the country is for him to attend the first Monetary Policy Committee meeting to be held in January 23.
According to the apex bank’s image maker, Nwanisobi, the CBN Governor would not be deterred by his encounter with DSS and that Emefiele would carryout his duties constitutionally.
While stating that, “the Governor, Central Bank of Nigeria, Mr. Godwin Emefiele, has resumed duty after his annual vacation abroad, Nwanisobi added that, “the Governor resumed with renewed vigour to perform his duty ahead of the first Monetary Policy Committee meeting of the year scheduled for January 23 to 24, 2023.”
“Mr. Emefiele remains committed to performing the task before him in line with his oath of office and the policy direction of President Muhammadu Buhari. While thanking the public for keeping faith with the Bank, we urge Nigerians to continue to support the policies of the Bank aimed at ensuring a stable financial system and the Nigerian economy in general,” he said.
It could be recalled that in December, Emefiele failed to appear before the House of Representatives two times when invited to shed light on the policy by the CBN over withdrawals of money deposited by customers.
The CBN’s policy gives limits to cash withdrawals at Deposit Money Banks and other financial institutions and this development has generated controversy among stakeholders.