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Central bank Governor, Emefiele Already Paid For Study Leave Using Apex Bank Amid Plans To Flee Nigeria Before Tinubu’s Inauguration

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SaharaReporters had exclusively reported how the study leave would offer the apex bank governor an opportunity to flee the country before Buhari leaves office on May 29, 2023.

Godwin Emefiele, the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria has already paid for studies abroad after being reportedly granted study leave by President Muhammadu Buhari, SaharaReporters has learnt.

Sources told SaharaReporters that Emefiele made payments through the apex bank, using six departments to avoid detection.

To avoid detection, Emefiele spread the payment through six departments in the bank, each paying for the flight, accommodation, study materials, schools fees and sundry individually, ” one of the sources said.

SaharaReporters had exclusively reported how the study leave would offer the apex bank governor an opportunity to flee the country before Buhari leaves office on May 29, 2023.

This comes amid corruption and terrorism-financing allegations against him.

SaharaReporters had reported that the country’s secret police, the Department of State Services, which made futile attempts to arrest and detain Emefiele in the past over the damning allegations against him, was not happy about the prospect of seeing the CBN governor evade justice.

“The DSS has kicked against the study leave reportedly granted to Emefiele as it means he will flee the country before May 29 when another government comes in,” a source said last Friday.

Bola Tinubu of the All Progressives Congress will be sworn in as Nigeria’s new president on May 29 barring any court judgement to the contrary as his election victory is being challenged at the election petition tribunal.

Meanwhile, the Zamfara State Governor, Bello Matawalle, has urged President Buhari not to grant any “study leave” to Emefiele, a few days before the inauguration of a new administration.

The governor, in a press statement on Monday, personally signed by him and sent to SaharaReporters, said Emefiele after superintending over the management of the country’s financial and monetary systems and implementing the “recent disastrous Naira swap policy” must not be allowed to proceed abroad for any study leave.

The governor wrote, “Beyond the remarkable achievements of his administration in all sectors, President Muhammadu Buhari has demonstrated that he is a patriot, democrat and a man of impeccable integrity and character. Perhaps more than ever before, this has been on display even in the twilight of his administration. President Buhari has about two weeks left of his eventful tenure.

“Last week, he and his family officially moved out of their residence at Aso Rock Presidential Villa into a place called the Glass House, also within the precinct of the Villa.

“President Buhari and his wife Aisha Buhari have shown good faith and shown they want a seamless orderly and peaceful transfer of power to the incoming administration. They are eager to ensure that the new regime takes off smoothly and speedily and in a manner devoid of any encumbrance in the interest of our country. This is the right thing to do and I commend President Buhari and his wife for their statesmanly conduct.

“However, other officers in government have acted in a different manner. They are behaving as if they want to put spanners in the work for the incoming regime. President Buhari should not allow this. He should frown on any attempt by any person seeking to damage the good job he has done.

“This is the import of this press statement today. I want, here and now, to urge President Buhari to not approve any study leave or whatever kind of leave for any officer critical to the take-off of the incoming administration of Asíwájú Bola Ahmed Tinubu. One of such persons that has been speculated in the media to have sought a study leave is Central Bank of Nigeria Governor Godwin Emefiele.

“Ifthe leave has been approved, as reported in the media, the President should cancel it in the interest of peaceful transfer of power, accountability and good governance. CBN Governor Emefiele superintended over the management of the country’s financial and monetary systems. He is the one who initiated and implemented the recent disastrous Naira swap policy, the Naira confiscation program, which put Nigerians through untold woes and trauma and set our economy backwards.

“Two of my brother-governors and I took the Federal Government to court over this ill-advised policy and fought resolutely until we got a respite for our people from Emefiele and company.

“This same Emefiele now wants to proceed on study leave when he has some 10 months left of his tenure apparently in a bid to evade rendering accounts. This is unacceptable. President Buhari should not countenance this. Emefiele must stay at his job to give full accounts of all that transpired under his watch to the incoming administration. He must answer all the questions the new regime may have for him particularly when he still has some months left of his tenure.

“I also want to use this opportunity to appeal to President Buhari to also not approve foreign postings or grant any foreign travels for any officer at any level in the outgoing government who may be critical or strategic to the smooth take-off of the incoming government. I’m aware that some officers in the outgoing government are moving to surreptitiously leave the country at this critical time they are needed to answer to specific questions, though I would not want to mention their names here.

“President Buhari should not heed their inordinate and unpatriotic plan. These plans are dangerous and devilish. They show clearly that these officers have something to hide. This must be halted immediately. Any plan to evade rendering accounts is neither in the interest of accountability, transparency and anti-corruption, which President Buhari had championed in government, nor in the interest of an unencumbered take-off of the incoming administration. It’s also not in the interest of the country, which the president has always promoted and championed. This is my appeal and why I have decided to speak out as a patriotic Nigerian and concerned governor.”

In March, a former lawmaker, Senator Shehu Sani, said Emefiele’s life would be made miserable by the incoming administration of ‘president-elect’, Tinubu.

According to Sani, Emefiele’s life and activities under the incoming government will be like ‘Zebra in the hands of Tigers’.

Sani, who represented Kaduna Central Senatorial District in the 8th Assembly made the statement on his Twitter page a week after the Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, declared Tinubu as the winner of the 2023 presidential election.

Considering the controversies that have surrounded the Naira redesign and cashless policy under Emefiele’s leadership in CBN and the fact that Tinubu alleged that the Naira redesign policy was targeted at sabotaging his presidential ambition, Sani said, “When Baba is gone, Emefiele will be like Zebra in the hands of Tigers.”

BACKGROUND

SaharaReporters had exclusively reported how the DSS accused Emefiele of sabotaging the economy, financing terrorism and committing other economic crimes.

Top government sources shared with SaharaReporters how the investigation linked Emefiele to a well-known terror financier, whom the apex bank governor had sent funds for onward transfer to controversial Islamic cleric Sheikh Ahmad Gumi.

Gumi is known for hobnobbing with terrorists and bandits and advocating that amnesty should be granted to them.

In 2022, one of Gumi’s associates, Tukur Mamu, was arrested and detained by Interpol at Cairo International Airport in Egypt while awaiting a connecting flight to Saudi Arabia. Upon his return to Nigeria, he was arrested by the DSS over allegations that he was heading to Saudi Arabia to meet with some international terrorists.

Meanwhile, the secret police said their preliminary investigation revealed various acts of terrorism financing, fraudulent activities perpetrated by Emefiele and his involvement in economic crimes of national security dimension including mismanaging the CBN subsidiary, NISRAL, and the central bank’s Anchor Borrowers Programme.

The secret police also accused Emefiele of “fraud, money laundering, round tripping and conferment of financial benefit to self and others.”

The agency sought a court warrant to arrest the CBN governor but Chief Judge of the Federal High Court, Justice John Tsoho, refused to grant the application, citing an irregularity in the procedure adopted by the DSS in its application.

In court documents obtained by PREMIUM TIMES, the DSS in its application filed as an ex parte motion, sought court permission to detain Emefiele for 60 days to conclude an ongoing investigation into his alleged crimes.

The application was reportedly supported by an affidavit deposed to by a DSS official, Umar Salihu, who summarised the details of the investigations into the weighty crimes Emefiele allegedly committed.

The documents revealed that Emefiele had been funding “unknown gunmen” terrorising Southeast Nigeria.

PREMIUM TIMES quoted the deponent of the affidavit as saying, “There is reasonable suspicion that the respondent (Mr Emefiele) was involved in terrorism financing, aiding and abetting acts of terrorism, economic crimes of national security dimension and for undermining the security of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.”

According to Salihu, the agency needed to apply to the court “for an order enabling the applicant to detain the respondent for 60 days, pending the conclusion of ongoing investigation …”

SaharaReporters had also reported how Emefiele nursed presidential ambition and attempted to vie for the office on the platform of the ruling APC.

After facing opposition from some quarters including within the CBN, Emefiele approached the Delta State High Court sitting in Kwale, Ndokwa West Local Government Area, Delta State, to get an order restraining the apex bank and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) from stopping him from contesting the 2023 presidential election.

He eventually backed down after it was clear that he would have to resign from office to contest the presidential primary election of the ruling party.

Also, the DSS had made attempts to arrest Emefiele after accusing him of sponsoring terrorism but a Federal High Court in Maitama, Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja issued an order restraining the secret police from arresting the CBN governor.

This ruling, delivered by Justice M.A. Hassan also applies to others listed as defendants – the Inspector-General of Police (IGP), the Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF), the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), and the CBN.

Earlier, a Federal High Court sitting in Abuja declined an application filed by the DSS to arrest and detain Emefiele over the grave allegations against him.

In declining the motion ex parte filed by the secret police, Justice J. T. Tsoho, the Chief Judge, said the DSS did not provide any concrete evidence to substantiate its claims that Emefiele was involved in terrorism financing and economic crimes.

During the period, Emefiele was out of the country and delayed his stay abroad after claiming he was sick and undergoing treatment.

Upon Emefiele’s return to Nigeria in January 2023 after spending several weeks away, SaharaReporters reported how the Chief of Defence Staff, Gen. Lucky Irabor, deployed military personnel and intelligence officers to ensure that he was not arrested by the DSS.

Sources at the CBN told SaharaReporters that the security personnel that accompanied Emefiele to the bank were larger than that of President Buhari.

“Emefiele has returned to Nigeria. He went to the CBN with massive security. He was given military protection. His security is bigger than that of the President,” one of the sources had said in a terse message to SaharaReporters.

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