The Department of State Services has said the suspended governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Godwin Emefiele, is now in its custody.
According to reports, Emefiele was arrested in Lagos and flown to the Federal Capital Territory for questioning.
The President, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, had on Friday, June 9, 2023, announced the suspension of Emefiele, citing an investigation and reforms in the financial sector.
Emefiele was directed to immediately hand over the affairs of his office to the Deputy Governor (Operations Directorate) pending the conclusion of the investigation and the reforms.
This was followed by speculation that the suspended CBN governor had been arrested by the DSS, a claim the service denied.
However, in a statement on Saturday by the spokesperson for the service, Peter Afunanya, he stated that Emefiele is now in its custody for “investigative reasons”.
The statement read, “The Department of State Services hereby confirms that Mr Godwin Emefiele, the suspended Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, is now in its custody for some investigative reasons.
“The public, particularly the Media, is enjoined to apply utmost caution in the reportage and narratives concerning this”.
It was gathered that before now, the DSS had been on the trail of the suspended CBN governor.
The service had approached a high court in the Federal Capital Territory to arrest Emefiele.
But Chief Judge of the Federal High Court, Justice John Tsoho, said the secret police did not provide any concrete evidence to substantiate its claims that Emefiele was involved in terrorism financing and economic crimes.
Among the allegations levied against the embattled CBN governor by the Department of State Services were terrorism financing, mismanagement of Nigeria’s social investment programme, and the Anchor Borrowers Scheme, among others.
