President Bola Tinubu has suspended the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Godwin Emefiele.
The Director of Information, Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Willie Bassey, disclosed this in a statement on Friday night in Abuja.
Emefiele came under scathing criticism from Nigerians over the apex bank’s poor handling of the redesign of the naira notes during former President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration.
The policy caused untold hardship in the country before the Supreme Court intervened in March and extended the validity of the old naira notes till December 31.
Meanwhile, the battle for freedom has begun for the suspended Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria as he was arrested by DSS on Friday.
The arrest was reported shortly after President Bola Tinubu suspended Emefiele.
According to the president, Emefiele was suspended due to the ongoing investigation of his office and the planned reforms in the financial sector of the economy.
Prior to Emefiele’s suspension, the DSS, on December 7, 2022, in an exparte application with reference no: FHC/ABJ/CS/2255/2022, sought an order to arrest the CBN Governor.
The security agency accused Emefiele of financing terrorism, fraudulent activities and economic crimes of national security dimension.
The Chief Judge of the Federal High Court, Justice J.T Tsoho, however, refused to grant the application of the DSS.
The court said such an application should have been accompanied with the presidential approval because of the grave implications for the Nigerian economy if the CBN governor is arrested and detained.