One of the critical areas Jim Obazee, the Special Investigator, appointed by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to probe Godwin Emefiele, the suspended CBN Governor is beaming searchlight, is how the management of the bank under his watch incurred a whopping N1. 2 trillion as running cost while he held sway in the government-controlled bank.
Obazee, a former chief executive officer of the Financial Reporting Council of Nigeria, FRCN, was appointed on July 28 by the president with the mandate “to investigate the CBN and related entities using a suitably experienced, competent and capable team and work with relevant security and anti-corruption agencies to deliver on this assignment.”
According to sources monitoring what is currently going on in the apex bank, the investigator is particularly surprised to unearth documents showing that the operating expenses grew to close to 200 percent under Emefiele.
The embattled Emefiele was recently granted bail by a federal high court in Lagos in the sum of N20 million but has remained in the custody of the Department of State Services, DSS, which is prosecuting him for illegal possession of firearms.
Not a few Nigerians have called for his release following the court order, saying the DSS no longer has reason to hold him, but the revelations from the ongoing probe by the special investigator appointed by the president may further compound his predicament, according to those closely monitoring his case.
Sources in the CBN said the investigator has interrogated some top officials of the bank in the last few weeks, who have given useful information on how Emefiele ran a one-man show in the bank.
“Even though some critical decisions were carried out with the knowledge of the former president Muhammadu Buhari, others that are equally important, particularly in the areas of operations, such as the finances of the bank were shrouded in top secrecy. The finances of the bank were carried out in such a manner that lacked transparency,” a top source in the bank said.
The source who spoke under condition of anonymity said “Even some top officials of the bank were shut out in some decision-making processes, particularly those capable of raising red flags to put Emefiele in trouble.”
The former CBN Governor relied on his closeness to former President Buhari to take some actions that are now the subject of the ongoing probe, the source further stated, adding that some top officials of the bank ‘were also neck-deep’ in the corruption that pervaded the apex bank under Emefiele.
Those that have also been fingered in the alleged heist are some individuals and companies consulting for the apex bank. Some of them were said to have been paid for many jobs that were never done.
“I think Nigerians are about to witness one of the biggest corruption cases under any CBN governor so far,” a member of the investigating team said on Monday.
Before Emefiele took over the affairs of the bank in 2014, the total operating cost was barely N500 billion, and financial experts are now asking why the expenses have risen so sharply without a commensurate expansion in the economy.
“This is tantamount to voodoo which can only be explained by Emefiele,” Alade Justice, a forensic expert told the magazine in his alleged heist in the apex bank that has now become a subject of a probe by the federal government.
President Tinubu was said to have appointed Obazee to probe Emefiele based on his track record as a thorough forensic expert. Former President Goodluck Jonathan had appointed him to probe Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, a former CBN governor.
It was based on his report that Sanusi was removed from office by Jonathan in 2014 leading to the appointment of Emefiele.
