Godwin Emefiele, the Central Bank of Nigria, CBN, has survived a plot to remove him from office.
The embattled CBN governor has been in the eye of the storm for sometime over his decision to tighten the country’s monetary policy, he further put himself in the firing line of those who want him out of office recently after the bank announced the redesigning of the naira, and the limitations on cash withdrwal effective January 31, 2023.
According to the Cable, the CBN governor, who just returned from a trip abroad with President Muhammadu Buhari, survived the first move to get him out of his plum job after a federal high court in Abuja, rejected a suit filed by the Department of State Services, DSS to arrest him.
According to the online newspaper, the DSS had secretly filed a suit before the court to get its approval to arrest the CBN governor on allegation of terrorism financing.
The alleged plot to arrest the apex bank Governor comes on the back of suggestions that Emefiele has stepped on the toes of some top politicians in the country, following the cash restriction policy recently introduced by the government bank.
By tightening the noose on cash withdrwal, watchers of the polity said the CBN has effectively taken a solid step to discourage the monetisation of next year’s general election.
The decision, watchers of the CBN said, obviously did not go down well with some political players in the country who are employing every means to get him out of office.
“It’s not impossible for these unnamed politicians to use some pliant government agencies to frustrate the CBN. It’s an issue of strike the shepherd and the sheep will scatter,” a CBN source said on Tuesday.
The source futher stated that some powerful Nigerians contesting or supporting politicians contesting the 2023 election consider the cash restriction policy as a plot by the CBN to stop thme from buying votes from voters.
Rejecting the suit filed by the DSS, Justice JT Tsoho was said to have declined the request on the grounds that Emefiele was not in the country when the suit was filed, and that the secret police did not give enough evidence to substantiate the allegation of terrorism financing against the apex bank govrnor.
Sources at the high court told TheCable that the judge said he should have been taken into confidence if there was any evidence to back the allegations in the application, marked FHC/ABJ/CS/2255/2022.
“The honourable judge also wondered why the name of the respondent was given simply as ‘Godwin Emefiele’ without a material disclosure that he is the same person as the CBN governor, a highly ranking public official who occupies an extremely sensitive position,” the source said.
The court futher stated that such an application should have been accompanied with the presidential approval because of the grave implications for the Nigerian economy if the CBN governor is arrested and detained.
In a swift reaction to the issue, the DSS has warned the public not to try to undermine its job.
In a statement issued on Monday, Peter Afunanya, DSS spokesperson, said the service will not be distracted by those seeking to use “propaganda” to undermine its lawful investigations.
The DSS said it has continued to discharge its services in the overall interest of Nigerians and would not be deterred by the effort of some persons to throw mud at the Service for selfish interest.
The statement said, “As such, the Service will continue to disseminate actionable intelligence to the relevant authorities devoid of any sentiment,” the statement reads.
“While professionally discharging its mandate, the DSS pledges to remain focused and unbiased. It will not, by any means, succumb to propaganda, intimidation and the desperation of hirelings to undermine it.
“It will also not give room to the use of falsehood and deceit to misdirect public understanding and perceptions of issues of national importance.
“Given not to join issues, the Service warns those on a wild goose chase to be mindful of their actions. Similarly, it urges members of the public to disregard the vituperations and rantings of misguided elements and not allow themselves to be used as instruments of destabilisation.
“Notably, these elements should remember the famous axiom that ‘you will only deceive some people, some of the time, but not all people, all the time’
“To put it succinctly, the Service will not be distracted by persons and/or groups from carrying out its duties to the Nation, citizens, and, President and Commander-in-Chief.”
Meanwhile, a massive protest rented Abuja, the nation’s capital on Monday from groups supporting the CBN governor.
Led by Tochukwu Ohazuruike, the coalition made up of different groups claimed there was a plot to frame Emefiele for terrorism. They said the CBN helmsman is not a terrorist, warning that he should not be forcefully removed from office.
Ohazuruike said: “We have firmly in our custody, genuine hardcore evidence of a plot by the DSS to frame the Governor of CBN, Emefiele for terrorism financing, abduct him and keep him away for at least 60 days in solitary confinement, which will pave way for the forceful removal of the CBN Governor from office and destabilize the President Buhari backed CBN economic stability and reform efforts, especially the new currency redesign and cash withdrawal limit policies which in the immediate will help achieve President Buhari’s promise of a credible election in 2023.
“It has taken us some time, diligent and careful monitoring and resources to discover that on the said December 7, 2022, a motion was filed in the FCT High Court, with the major target of getting the CBN Governor out of office. The motion had suit number M/294/2022.
“On December 7, 2022, another ex-parte application was secretly filed at a Federal High Court, Abuja this time directly by the DSS. The suit is between the DSS v Godwin Emefiele. Our intelligence which discovered this shocking development showed the suit was filed at the court without disclosing the full identity of Mr. Emefiele to the court and working on the premise that the court would grant an order for the Service to arrest and detain Mr. Emefiele for a minimum of 60 days hiding under section 66 of the Terrorism Prevention and Prohibition Act 2022.”
Emefiele may have survived the latest plot to remove him, analyst say, those who desperately want him out of the bank will not stop until they achieve their aim before the 2023 election. His traducers only need the buy-in of President Buhari, who has not shown any sign of dumping the apex bank governor, analysts said.
