Governor of the Central Bank Governor (CBN), Godwin Emefiele, has reportedly secretly returned to the country, after being away for two weeks.
This is according to sources within the apex bank and the presidency.
The return of the embattled Emefiele, according to a report by PREMIUM TIMES, was necessitated by the expiration of a two-week leave he proceeded on, approved by President Muhammadu Buhari.
The CBN boss has been out of the country amidst fears he would be arrested by operatives of the State Security Service (SSS) who are investigating allegations against him, including corruption and terrorism financing.
The newspaper quoted a Presidency source to have informed it that “His holidays finished yesterday so he has to report to work today.”
It was also gathered that Emefiele plans to leave the country again very soon to evade arrest by the SSS who are still on his trail amidst the continuous power play at the highest levels of the Nigerian government.
“He is trying to leave within the next few days on the pretence of attending the annual World Economic Forum.
“His holidays finished yesterday so he has to report to work today,” our source said.
The report is saying that Mr Emefiele is planning to leave the country again very soon, afraid the secret police could eventually arrest him amidst the continuous power play at the highest levels of the Nigerian government.
“He is trying to leave within the next few days on the pretence of attending the annual World Economic Forum,” the source said.
Senior Special Assistant to the president on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, and the spokesperson of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Osita Nwanisobi, did not respond to calls and text messages put across to them regarding the matter as of press time Thursday morning.
In December, the SSS secretly sought a court order to arrest Emefiele but the Federal High Court, Abuja, however, rejected the SSS’ request.
In the application, the SSS wanted the court to order the arrest of the CBN governor over alleged “acts of financing terrorism, fraudulent activities and economic crimes of national security dimension.”
The SSS filed the application marked FHC/ABJ/CS/2255/2022 at the court on 7 December, 2022, with Emefiele as the sole defendant in the suit which was filed ‘ex parte’.
In rejecting the application, the judge said: “These are no doubt grave allegations, but which the applicant has not presented any concrete evidence to support.”
Tsoho also accused the SSS of deceit, saying the secret police failed to indicate that ‘Godwin Emefiele’, against whom the order was sought, was the same as the CBN governor.
“The respondent in this application is named as ‘Godwin Emefiele’ without disclosure of his status or position anywhere; not even in the affidavit,” the judge said.
The judge ruled that considering the sensitive position held by Emefiele, the permission of Buhari ought to have been sought before the bank chief was arrested.
“It is left to speculation if the ‘Godwin Emefiele’ is the same person as the serving Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria. If it is, then he is unarguably a high-ranking public official in Nigeria and indeed occupies a sensitive position as one of the key drivers of the nation’s economy.
“Therefore, an application of this kind should have evidence of the approval of the respondent’s boss, that such measures are authorised to be taken.”
Meanwhile, about two weeks after Tsoho gave his order, Emefiele got another reprieve from a separate court.
