UPDATED: Tinubu suspends Emefiele as CBN Governor

President Bola Tinubu has suspended the Central Bank Governor, Godwin Emefiele, from office immediately.

This was revealed Friday night in a statement by Willie Bassey, Director of Information at the office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation.

The CBN Governor’s suspension is a sequel to the ongoing investigation of his office and the planned reforms in the economy’s financial sector, the statement said.

Mr Emefiele has been directed to immediately hand over the affairs of his office to the Deputy Governor (Operations Directorate), who will act as the Central Bank Governor pending the conclusion of the investigation and the reforms.

The suspended CBN governor assumed office in 2014 after succeeding Lamido Sanusi, who was equally suspended from office under controversial circumstances by President Goodluck Jonathan few months before the expiration of his tenure.

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Before his appointment, Mr Emefiele was the Group Managing Director of Zenith Bank Plc.

Since assuming office in 2014, the suspended CBN chief has faced criticisms among Nigerians due to his management of the economy, his politics, and the apex bank’s controversial policies.

During his tenure, the Nigerian currency, the naira, has experienced a significant decline, currently trading at over N750 per dollar in the parallel market and N469.50 per dollar at the spot market as of Thursday, the lowest it has ever traded on the Investors and Exporters (I&E) window.

The apex bank, under Mr Emefiele, has equally had troubles containing the nation’s inflation rate, which stood at 22.2 per cent in May, according to the nation’s statistics bureau.

Ordeals

Last year, the State Security Service (SSS) alleged that Mr Emefiele had been financing terrorism, among other allegations.

The SSS secretly requested a court order in December to arrest him on allegations of “financing terrorism, fraudulent activities, and economic crimes of national security dimension.”

This request was, however, rejected by the Federal High Court in Abuja because the secret security unit failed to present sufficient evidence to justify issuing an arrest warrant against Mr Emefiele.

Mr Emefiele also faced a barrage of criticism due to his controversial foray into partisan politics, which saw him contest for the presidential ticket of the ruling All Progressive Congress. Although the governor tried to deny his involvement in partisan politics, support groups were calling for his emergence as flagbearer of the ruling party.

The governor’s unprecedented involvement in partisan politics attracted widespread condemnation, with experts expressing worries about the governor’s impartiality and the autonomy of the CBN.

Naira redesign

In the last quarter of 2022, the CBN also introduced a naira redesign policy that was widely criticised for the uncertainty and widespread chaos it triggered across Nigeria.

The policy caused widespread chaos nationwide as frustrated Nigerians staged protests amid poor banking operations.

In the heat of the electioneering, Mr Tinubu, then candidate of the APC, claimed that the policies implemented by the CBN, such as the restriction on cash withdrawals to N20,000 per day and N100,000 per week, were deliberately designed to hinder his chances of winning the presidential election.

Last month, the nation’s statistics bureau revealed that Nigeria’s economy slowed in the first quarter of the year on cash scarcity induced by the CBN naira redesign policy.

Call for arrest, prosecution

Meanwhile, amid the melee, prominent Nigerians and leading figures in the civil society called for Mr Emefiele’s arrest and prosecution.

Im March, Nigeria’s leading investigative medium, PREMIUM TIMES, also called for the arrest and prosecution of the central bank governor.

In an editorial, the news outlet reiterated its stand, frowning at the anti-people cash policies imposed by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) under the watch of Mr Emefiele.

The editorial also criticised the CBN for failing to adhere to the ruling of the Supreme Court on the old naira notes. It noted that the cash withdrawal limit imposed by the central bank is an infringement on the rights of the people.

“And most have had to live with a frightening range of infringements since the banknotes swap policy came into effect,” the newspaper stated in the editorial.

“These have ranged from the economic (loss of earnings platforms across the economy’s informal sector), through the emotional (having to beg for cash from friends, family, neighbours and strangers to meet basic needs) to the conceptual (just struggling to make sense of the policy’s design, implementation and expected outcomes).”