Despite threat of arrest, Emefiele shuns Reps again

Again, the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Godwin Emefiele, has shunned the invitation of the House of Representatives on the Naira redesigning despite the threat of arrest by the lawmakers.

Mr Emefiele on Thursday failed to appear before the ad hoc committee mandated to interface with the apex bank and commercial banks.

Earlier, the Speaker of the House, Femi Gbajabiamila, had declared readiness to issue an arrest warrant on Mr Emefiele if he continued to ignore the panel.

He stated that the House was willing to invoke section 89 of the 1999 Constitution by asking the Inspector General of Police to arrest Mr Emefiele.

Speaking on the refusal of Mr Emefiele to appear before the committee, Alhassan Doguwa, the chairman of the committee, said the CBN wrote a letter to the House, stating that the CBN governor is not in the country.

Mr Doguwa condemned the action of the CBN governor and accused him of being a “monster” that is not willing to respect the legislature.

“They (CBN) have shunned the House of Representatives again. We are dealing—not only with an institution that we call apex bank—but a monster at the head of that bank. Monster, because if you have disregard for the laws of your land, then absolutely you are on your own,” he said.

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He also dismissed the letter written by the CBN that Mr Emefiele is out of the country. According to him, “it is a lie by the bank to disregard the committee.”

“Earlier, we received a letter from the CBN, claiming that CBN governor was out of the country with Mr President.

“You can all agree with me that Mr President is back. I wonder how officials of the CBN will now write a letter, lying to the National Assembly that the CBN governor is out of the country with the president,” he said.

He said the warrant of arrest will be issued on Tuesday.