Kingsley Obiora, Deputy CBN Governor, Released From Detention; President Fires NASENI Boss, Gwandu

By Gideon Njoku

A Deputy Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, Dr Kingsley Obiora has been released from the custody of the Department of State Services, DSS.

Obiora was freed just as President Bola Tinubu sacked the Executive Vice Chairman of the National Agency for Science and Engineering Infrastructure, NASENI, Dr Bashir Gwandu.

On the behest of the Jim Obazee -led Special Investigative Panel set-up by President Bola Tinubu to probe the activities of the Bank under its suspended Governor, Dr. Godwin Emefiele, the DSS kept Obiora, CBN’s DG in charge of  Economic Policy.

He was in custody for a couple of days and before his release.

Speculations are that, just like other very senior staff invited for  grilling since the suspension and arrest of Emefiele in June, Obiora was called in,  in other, to perhaps, be used as a prosecution witness against Emefiele. This Speculation has not been independently confirmed by this magazine.

Also invited and grilled and detained are Sa’adatu Ramaian Yero and Abbas Masanawa, boss of NIRSAL  sacked recently by the President.

Dr. Gwandu, the NASENI Boss, sacked on Friday, was in office for barely three months before President Tinubu sacked him.

No reason was given for the sudden sack. But, in his place, Tinubu appointed 32-year old Khalil Halilu.

According to a statement on Friday by the Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Ajuri Ngelale,  Halilu’s appointment took immediate effect.

It reads:

“President Bola Tinubu on Friday approved the appointment of Khalil Suleiman Halilu as the new Executive Vice Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the National Agency for Science and Engineering Infrastructure (NASENI),” the statement read.

“By this appointment, Khalil Suleiman Halilu will serve for an initial term of five years in accordance with the relevant sections of the NASENI Act, 2014.

“Mr. Halilu, 32, is expected to bring his significant experience as an innovator and technology expert to bear in this important new national assignment.

“The tenure of Dr. Bashir Gwandu as EVC/CEO of NASENI is hereby terminated. By the directive of the President, this appointment takes immediate effect.”

Gwandu assumed office at the NASENI Headquarters, Abuja, on Monday, May 22, 2023, and was barely three months in office.

He took over from Mrs. Nonyem Onyechi who was overseeing the affairs of the Agency following his appointment by former President Muhammadu Buhari as the new boss.