By Bayo Bernard, Business Editor
The five months journey of the sacked Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN governor, Godwin Emefiele, in the custody of the Department of State Services, DSS and the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, is classical of a powerful state official falling from his high horse to nothingness.
On Monday, the EFCC which arrested Emefiele on October 27 after he was released by the DSS, failed to present him in court, for prosecution, despite a court order to that effect.
The development has left tongues wagging on why the federal government has continued to detain the former CBN governor despite court order for him to be released.
If there’s no concrete evidence to prosecute him, Emefiele should be allowed to go home to his family after languishing in security custody for 150 days, according to some Nigerians who accused the government of flouting court orders in this case.
Other Nigerians who spoke on the issue, however, blamed Emefiele for his current predicament, saying he’s a victim of his own schemes and shenanigans while he was the chief executive of the government-controlled bank.
Justice Olukayode Adeniyi had last week, November 2, ordered the EFCC to charge Emefiele to court or release him immediately.
Instructively, the embattled former CBN governor had already spent over 140 days in the custody of Nigeria’s secret police before he was picked up by the Olukoyede-led EFCC.
Justice Adeniyi’s order also came amidst calls by various rights groups in the country for the former CBN to be released.
Those who know told the magazine that the refusal by the EFCC to arraign him in court yesterday, points to the fact that Emefiele is not likely to be released any time soon by the anti-graft agency.
“Emefiele will be brought to court when we find enough evidence to arraign him. We are still gathering evidence from the CBN to know the depth of the corruption he left behind in that place. That will take some time,” an EFCC source said on Monday.
Part of the evidence the EFCC would be looking for, sources informed, is how over N1 trillion Anchor Borrowers Fund was mismanaged under Emefiele’s watch as CBN governor.
Recall that the International Monetary Fund, IMF, and World Bank criticized the disbursement of the huge funds set aside to assist rice farmers in the country, describing it as a conduit for some top CBN officials and commercial bank’s which disbursed the funds directly to the beneficiaries as Primary Lending Institutions, PLIs.
The EFCC is also looking at how it can prove the case of economic sabotage against Emefiele in the light of the naira re-denomination policy introduced under his regime as CBN governor.
The Emefiele’s CBN had tried to redesign the N1000, N500, and N200 banknotes, thereby imposing serious sufferings on many Nigerians.
Despite the criticism from not a few Nigerians, including President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, the presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress, APC, at the time, who claimed that the policy was designed to stop him from becoming president, Emefiele pressed on with it until the Supreme Court finally stopped its implementation.
One of the areas the EFCC is currently looking at, sources also say, is how the CBN lied about the nation’s foreign reserves.
It was JP Morgan that in August revealed in a report that the nation’s Forex reserve stood at $3.7 billion, contrary to CBN claim that the reserve is $33.88 billion.
The external reserves stood at $33.88 billion as of August 10, down from $37.08 billion at the end of 2022, data from the CBN claimed at a time.
JP Morgan however debunked the claim: “We estimate that CBN’s net FX reserves were around $3.7 billion at the end of last year, from US$14.0 billion at end-2021,” it said.
JP Morgan also gave the breakdown for emphasis: “FX forwards ($6.84 billion), securities lending ($5.5 billion) and currency swaps ($21.3 billion); and estimating currency swaps by backing out FX forwards and outstanding OTC Futures balances from an overall aggregate published in the financial accounts,” the firm said.
Analysts however said Emefiele could not have taken any action on the foreign reserves without approval from former president Muhammadu Buhari, so, he cannot be totally held liable.
According to sources in the commission, the EFCC has also been handed files by the DSS regarding the alleged N6.9 billion procurement fraud by Emefiele, Sa’adatu Ramallan Yaro, a staff of CBN and some top official of the apex bank.
The DSS had in August arraigned Emefiele and his alleged accomplice in the case, where it was alleged that Emefiele bridged the country’s procurement laws.
Part of the charge against Emefiele, according the DSS charge sheet is “That you, Godwin Ifeanyi Emefiele, male, adult, Sa’adatu Ramallan Yaro, female, adult, and April 1616 Investment Ltd, sometime in 2019 within the jurisdiction of this Honourable Court, conspired amongst yourselves to use the office of Mr. Godwin Ifeanyi Emefiele as Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria to confer a corrupt advantage on Sa’adatu Ramallan Yaro, a staff of the Central Bank of Nigeria, by awarding a contract for the supply of 1 (No.) Toyota Landcruiser V8 at the cost of N73,800,000 only to April 1616 Investment Ltd.”
Legal experts insist that Emefiele faces five years imprisonment without the option of a fine, according to Section 19 of the Corrupt Practises and Other Related Offences Act 2000, if he’s found guilty of illegal enrichment.
In light of all of these, the EFCC needs more time to “gather a solid case against the former CBN governor before he’s brought to court. The new EFCC is not ready for media trial of any suspect untill we can gather a solid case,” another source in the Commission said.
Emefiele’s Journey To Detention
Emefiele was arrested and detained by the DSS in June after his suspension by PresidentTinubu
He was on July 25 arraigned on a two-count charge bordering on “illegal possession” of firearms at a Federal High Court in Lagos and was granted bail in the sum of N20 million.
The two-count charge was later struck out on August 17 after the federal government withdrew the charge.
A fresh 20-count charge was later instituted against him over an alleged conspiracy to carry out procurement fraud, among others.
On September 22, President Tinubu appointed Olayemi Cardoso, to replace Emefiele as Nigeria’s apex bank governor after close to nine years in office.
He was appointed ino the position in 2014 by former President Goodluck Jonathan.
Meanwhile, Justice Adeniyi, on Monday, ordered the EFCC to produce Emefiele in court unfailingly on Wednesday, November 8, 2023.
The judge said this is a reaffirmation of his earlier order on November 3, to the anti-graft agency to release the former apex bank governor or charge him to court.
